The Collector
by SAL-Chan
Summary: AU: Sohma Kyo is a supernatural assain, whose world is turned upside down by the very demons he means to hunt. Caught in an agreement that may cost his life , he's forced to work with what he seeks daily. And it's all for one girl... (Language-blood)
1. Welcome to My Life

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed if not ignored. This has been inspired by many people works and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these idea's are mine.

AN: Well...I don't have much to say. This is a little different, so just follow me for as long as you can. For this story, lets pretend magic and all that jazz does exist, and that there are vampires, zombies, trolls, dragon, werewolf's, demons, etc, and it will make life a lot easer when you read this. It's all for first person POV, and the POV doesn't change. THIS IS AN AU! If you don't like it, leave.

Have fun...

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

**Chapter One: Welcome to my Life**

There were small spots of drying blood on my face, and thankfully none of it was mine. It's slightly odd to think of starting the day off with dots of liquid that came from inside another person's body splashed across yours, but you get accustomed it. Either you're forced to or you snap like a dry twig. It's an easy guess at which one I picked -I'm still here.

Truthfully, I wasn't starting the day off with blood on my face; my day was just continuing. My days were about 36 hours long, with up to 6 hours of sleep - if I was lucky. After a while you get used to living of black coffee and sleeping with your eyes open. Paranoia helps one's insomnia.

Most of the time, you shouldn't meet a client with dried blood spots on you face. It's not very neat, or professional. But frankly, I don't really care. My boss on the other hand...he cares a bit more then me.

My job is simple really, but it does makes me stand out. It's not like I really had to study to be what I am, but it occasionally requires blood on my face - sometimes more then just on the face. My life has become quite complicated under my nose, and only after a near death experience has it been brought to my attention.

Currently, the client in my office was silently examining the product of my most recent near-death experience. My entire left shoulder was covered in small rivets of deep cuts and there was a long slash down my back because of that experience, as well as my left hand being cut up quite nicely. Well, the client couldn't really see my back, but my arm was another story all together. I love wearing short-sleeved shirts just for this one purpose.

I extended my right hand out to the so-far nameless client, knowing fully well that people tend to not want to shake mutilated parts of your body. His paper white hand had a strong grip despite the fact the he looked very frail. The palm of his hand was still smooth even against the tough and sharp calluses of mine. A light blue colored long sleeved shirt covered his arms totally, fully reaching up his arm. His face was the same pale shade of white that his hand was, so white it made his skin seem thinner then normal. He wore a pair of black jeans that weren't faded anywhere, and a pair of black shoes that I couldn't place the name of. They looked expensive and new - unused and plain.

"Hello, um..." I let my rough voice trail off, slowly letting go of his hand.

Most people who came to me where very professional, or very regular - average Joe's. Truthfully, with all the new worldwide laws that are being kicked into motion, my crew and I are considered cold-blooded killers. We kill the bad guy's, but we still kill. We're hired by legitimate business or other professionals - even some Joe's with enough money - and kill for them. Assassin isn't the word, but it's very close to it. We are the secretive murders, but people still come to us for kills - or hunts.

"Yosuki. Yosuki Atsuo." His voice was as soft as I had expected it to be, but it did hold the tired scratchiness of age and experience.

He pushed a long copper colored strand of hair away for his sculpted face, letting it fall to the floor. It coiled like a snake around the chair behind him and looked as if it was tangling itself. He never took off his solid black pair of sunglasses that wrapped around to cover his eyes. I had the feeling that he wouldn't take the glasses off now, and that he wouldn't the entire time I would see him today. His thinly stretched skin almost blended with the walls of my office.

My office was painted endless white, and the carpet was gray - the ceiling a lighter shade of the carpet. My desk had rich black color and looked more like an architects drawing table then a desk. It was tilted flat, but it gave me enough room to lay down plans of graveyards or houses or whatever. My nameplate sat in the corner next to my silver architects lamp, along with a bottle of water and a cup holder of pens. Under my desk were file cabinets that almost blended to the table to make it look like a desk - but it wasn't. They work better the regular desk draws do, but it still proves that my boss is a cheep bastard. He's the only one in the company that has a real desk...

There was a mirror that wrapped around the wall that sat behind me. It started from the bottom of my hip and came up to about three feet above my head. The mirror also stretched half way across the walls on either side of me, the same length on each side. Mirrors that could help me in more ways then one protected me. Vampire's - for future knowledge, and a refresher for anyone who didn't know- do not have a reflection. Mirrors also reflected the real images of a person if they cast glamour or any illusion. I was very thankful for my mirror...

Other then my mirror, I was lost in a cloud of gray.

"Yosuki-San, how can I help you today?" I said, sitting down in the chair behind my desk.

"Well Mr...." He repeated my eyebrow lift, and I grinned. I ran my left hand thought my hair and leaned back in my chair.

"Sohma Kyo. It says it on the name plate." I gestured at the gold colored plate near the lamp, but Yasuki-san just smiled. I pulled at the bottom of my gray tank top and crossed my legs at the ankles. A ripped pair of blue jeans covered my legs, blood spots scattered all over my knees and along the bottoms of the legs. My black Nikes had no blood on them that the eye could catch, but I knew for a fact that I had made tracks of blood in my wake when I walked into the office. My regular silver cross hung by a thin chain around my neck, a very comfortable weight against my scared chest. Killing two birds with one stone with a silver cross. Today happened to be a dress down day...in fact, every day happened to be a dress down day.

"Sohma Kyo." He said my name, testing it on his lips - smiling slightly. I didn't like that, not one freken bit. I've learned that if someone tastes you name, they know they're going to need to remember it. I glared at him.

"Yosuki-San, I'm a busy man. I do have appointments I need to check over..." I lied. Frankly I hadn't had my coffee in the past few hours - my day wasn't over quite yet, not until after tonight. And my gut was screaming at me to get the hell away from this guy as quickly as possible. I almost always agreed with my gut.

His smile fell off instantly. "I'll try not to take up to much of your valuable time, Sohma-San."

I could feel his heavy gaze through his sunglasses, and I knew he knew I was lying. A little white lie, but a lie never the less.

"I'm looking for a shape shifter for one of my own clients - I'm a privet deceive, you see. The shifter is someone from his or her family, a lost family member. They want me to find him. I've been told that your company happens to be one of the best tracking company's in Japan." His voice was quite monotone

"You want to track a shifter? That's all?" I blinked at him. It's rare that I'm asked to just track a shifter and not kill them. A retrieval thing was new to me. Yasuki smiled at the blunt surprise on my face, and then slowly started to laugh. His laugh creped up my arm's and raised goose bumps along then, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. His laughter curled around my stomach, and that feeling in m chest was screaming at me to leave. Old power beat around me, making my heartbeat quicken.

I turned around to check my mirror, to see if he was really there. Only old vampires - master vampires could make my skin crawl and my stomach churn. If he was a master vamp, then he must of been really old to be out in the daytime...

My shaggy orange hair swung around me, cropped short in the front and slightly longer in the back. My face was paler then my normal tan, and my eyes looked even brighter in their sockets - a bright shade of gray. I knew they were really red - no, they were crimson. I've been told my eyes were crimson, the exact color of blood. I couldn't see the color of blood, so I didn't know. I've never been able to see red -any red -, and I'm kind of thankful for that. My pink was pink, as long as it wasn't too red.

My red was gray. My red has been gray for a long time...

And there in the mirror sat Yosuki, a sweet smile on his face. I slowly turned back around to face him, my face and heart uneasy.

"I am not a vampire, Sohma." He said smoothly, reading my mind. I didn't feel him in my head, but my actions must of given my suspicions away. Once upon a time my eyes would have given more away, but not any more. That story's a very long one...

"Then** what** are you?" I asked, anger and some fear leaking into my voice. He was old with a hell of a lot of power, and wasn't a vamp. There wasn't much else he could be, and all of these choices weren't friendly.

"Perhaps there will be another time for that latter on, Sohma. As of now, I need your answer. Will you find my shifter?" His smile was as sincere as it could possibly be. All the alarms in my head were ringing. Yet he had come to me in a work environment and asked me to do a job. There was no threat toward me from him at all. I had to agree, I was obligated when on the job.

My gut told me not to take the job, to find some way out of it. This couldn't have been legit...

"You have all the paperwork?" I asked, a frown captivating my entire face. Most people don't have the paperwork, but the moment I said it I knew he would have it. Yosuki didn't seem like 'most people' and carelessly forget the all-important paperwork.

He smiled a ghost of a smile and placed a manila folder on my desk. Damn. I looked through it quickly. Everything was signed where it should have been, all the information was filled out, and there wasn't any reason for me to suspect that this was bad idea. But my gut wasn't buying it, even though I couldn't deny him or question him at all. It was policy not to get to know your client deeper then the paperwork. It makes life easer.

"When do you want to do this?" I asked, closing the folder and crossing my arms. If I couldn't get out of it, I could move it along.

"The sooner the better. I have an idea of where he is, but I don't have the skills or technology to catch him. " He said simply, but I felt his gaze through the glasses. I couldn't tell if he was lying to me or not. That was bad.

"Where?" I asked, letting him bate me. I sounded as weary as I felt, and I knew he saw it in my eyes. He smiled and pulled a folded peace of paper out of his pocked and placed it on my desk.

"I'll meat you at this location around 9?" He made it a question, keeping one finger on the paper. I quickly grabbed my appointment book and looked at my schedule. I nodded and stood up, and he followed my lead - standing in one fluid motion. All skin and no bones. It made me shiver, and it made the hairs on my neck stand up again.

"I'll see you there then." I extended my arm out toward him in a friendly closing gesture, and he took it. I should really try not to be to friendly anymore, it always happens to go wrong.

The instant he touched my hand I felt power race up my arm so fast it went numb. Power differs from person to person in the way it touches another person's aura. Most of the time it feels's like insects are crawling all over your skin. The older one's power is, the colder it feels. Yosuki's power felt like someone's hands were caressing my arms, the skin numbing in the wake of it all. I felt his hands of power touch my chest and push inside me, brushing my heart and diving deeper to search under my skin.

I felt the power call to something inside of me - like a voice whispering in my ear, but I had noting to call back with that was strong enough to be noticed. I could only feel the power of others, I could only read how strong they were and find them - a simple Tracker with some extras thrown in. But that wasn't enough to respond with, so Yosuki's power searched further - plunged deeper into my aura. That power called to my soul, and my soul answered in a burning rush as soul energy normally does - like it's swats back angry for being disturbed. A quick sweep of warmth, and that warmth let me feel that something inside of me was missing. There was a hole in me that his power gathered in and it pushed up against the small amount of power that sat in me, and the rest of the hole's walls. It made my chest numb.

Slowly he let go of my hand and smiled at me, pulling that power out of my body and back into himself. I felt that same cold power beet around me - around the room, and the hole in me felt open to the world. Like I truly had a hole in my body that ripped through my skin - an open wound.

"Unfortunately so, Sohma-san." He said it softly, then turned and walked out the door - shutting it quietly. My hand was left numb, and my chest was cold. When he closed the door, the feeling of the hole in my body faded. But I knew it was there now. The hole let me know that I could keep something else, something more then what I had could fit.

Others I knew that have 'Talents' talk about a hole in their chest or body where they pull their power from. I guess I could believe I had one, but I knew mine was almost empty. Did anyone else have a hole in their chest that could hold power but wasn't full?

I slowly sat back down in my set, my arm and chest still numb. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed as hard and as quickly as I could. The blood was now dry on my face was had probably stained my skin a light pink. I now had an assignment from some guy who could open a hole in my body that you couldn't see with your eyes and freeze me in my place. And later tonight I was going hunting for a shifter that I couldn't kill with him.

It was too God damn early for this.

When the numbness started to wear off I looked through the papers again. Yosuki Sigo - the shifter I was going to hunt - was the only one in his entire family who had something wrong with him. Supposedly a lycanthrope wall on a police raid of an illegal lycan fighting arena scratched him. Lycan arenas have started to become bigger and nastier, so the cops had started coming to us in order to shut them down. Apparently Sigo was the last casualty that pushed the police into asking for our help. Sigo had lost his job and became a wereleopard, then split. His family wanted him back. His totally human family wanted him back. That's a lot of love right there. Most families drop their loved-one-turned-furry.

A mug of black coffee was placed on top of the papers, effectively breaking my concentration. I followed the hand up to find one of my coworkers grinning down at me.

"Would you look at that..." Sean said, speech tinted with an English accent. There was a grin on his face that showed all his teeth. " ...Kyo's working before 12. It's a record."

"Shut up." I growled up at him, snatching the black coffee off the papers and taking a delicious sip. I live off of coffee. I'm surprised that when I get cut I don't gush the black stuff.

"Who was the ghost that walked out of here?" He asked, taking the seat Yosuki had just left. His bright green eyes, light skin, and golden blond hair pinpointed him as a foreigner right away. His main of wheat color hair was chopped close to his head and spiked with gel that made his hair look darker then I knew it was. His forest green eyes sparkled in his slightly tanned face, and freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. When he stood next to me, my hair looked like a bright orange flame. He was one of the only foreigners I liked - he had a good taste in music.

"Yosuki Atsuo, age 26. At least that's what this says." I ignoring the file and leaned back in my chair, taking another sip of my coffee. I stared hard at the last peace of paper Yosuki had pressed down on my desk, deciding to look at it for a surprise later on. He gave me a look and leaned back in his chair.

"You don't believe him?" He sipped his coffee to, and hummed happily into the cup. If anything at SCO made it's employees happy, it was the coffee.

"Nope. He's older the 26, but everything else is in order so...no back up checks. He has to know how we work if he know that without the paper work we do checks..." I put my coffee down and sighed, closing the folder. Sean stood up and I followed.

"_Well damn_." He said in English, stepping out into the tiled hallway. I thanked Sean a few times for teaching me curses in other languages. I could curse in Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Indian, French, and English. I'm multilingual, but English was still my favorite cursing language. For some reason it sounded better. I'm just weird that way.

The hallway - hell, all the rooms were exactly the same as mine. But unlike other offices, we had a kitchen area. Sean stepped into it first, and I followed. It was like waling through a doorway of water - the power in the room was thick. Of course, the entire SCO employs were sitting in here, drinking their morning-...well, afternoon coffee.

Unlike all the other times I stepped into the same room with the others, I felt the power hole in my chest. It took me a second to step over the pressure when I pushed myself into the room, and the humming continued at the bottom of the hole - making my small amount of power bubble. There were now five men standing/sitting in the small kitchen with power beating all around us - and I happen to be the only one without strong power. I felt it beat inside the power hole, but my power didn't answer. It couldn't answer, I barley had any.

SCO - or The Sohma Company - was the name of the company I worked for, and it was family owned and run. Mostly everyone in my family had some type of power passed to them from generation to generation, getting stronger and stronger every year. I happen to be the only exception to this happening that I know of. I can feel the dead moving, and track things that have any type of power. That's it. Sad but true.

The only outsider we had was Sean, but he made up for it in his own way. He was something called a Sniper. He could call bolts of black power from his hands and send them flying toward a target, and he could freely target something miles away without a scope - his eyes could focus on something that far away. None of his personal gun's had scopes on them, and he needed no time to aim - it was natural. Most of the time Sean was called for special situations with the police under the table.

He transferred here from either California or New York - some big city in the US- about two years ago for reasons still unknown to us, and he's our residential technical and weapons specialist - his main area, as you could guess. He's a skilled assassin, but he's not truthfully written down in Japan as a Sniper - so he's assigned office duty. He makes appointments with law firms and the police for rides or court explanations, as well as doing left over kills that the rest of us can't get to. He's happy with it though, and it's not like he isn't paid well.

At five foot seven Sean was tall - two inches taller then me - but not as tall as Yukari. Sean wasn't as skilled either, but most of his clients came back with friends or relatives. Most of the time we don't have to see our clients before we start the hunt because they call in. Dealing with the calls is a little hard, but for Sean you didn't have to figure out which 'Dekoura' a person wanted. The rest of us are Sohma's, so we are described by hair color; Orange, black, white, or violet.

Yukari had the violet hair that was cut short around his head, leaving little bangs that fell over his eyes. His eyes were ocean blue and trapped behind a constant pair of reading glasses. His face was soft and round, his shoulders broad. His frame was skinny and thin, his limbs long. A white colored dress shirt was buttoned up all the way, the sleeves rolled up to he elbows wall exposing the paleness of his arms and the horizontal knife wounds on both of his wrists. I knew for a fact that Yukari and a few long blade marks that dragged down his back that made not wearing a shirt in public a little uncomfortable. I also knew he had a hole in his leg from a hand - that in itself is a long story. Yet brown dress pants covered his legs and brown dress shoes fit his feet. He looked very professional sitting next to Haru, who was dressed like a business man after a fight - but I knew for a fact that Yukari could get down and dirty like the best of us.

Yukari was what you would call a Speaker, thus the reason for the scars across him wrists. They were self-inflected, but it was the only way he could call his ability's. It was common for Speakers to look like they tried multiple attempts at suicides, and once you inherit the special skill and hone them it's hard to find a normal job. Hell, anyone who was vaguely like what we are wouldn't be able to find another job with the amount of scars we have. But because Yukari has to walk the line between life and death every time he channels his ability doesn't help him. Being a Speaker allows a person to talk to ghosts, and allows one to pull soul back to a body or steal the soul's energy. But in order to pull a soul back or talk to ghosts, your blood is needed in order to talk and move them. Thus, the reason for the cuts on his wrists.

Haru did wear a white colored dress shirt; only he left it totally unbuttoned to show his white undershirt as well. The dress shirt was wrinkled and hand blotches or dried blood at the coroner on the bottom - plain gray splotches. The fact that his black dress pants were spotted with mud, and there was crosses of dried gray blood stuck to his face and had soaked through his t-shirt over his heart let me know he hadn't gone home yet - or had a shower. Haru's hair was split into two colors, black and white. The white part sat on top like he canopy of a mushroom, fluffy and disheveled. His black hair started just under the mushroom cut in the back and was tied into a small ponytail a few inches long.

Knife marks ran across his left wrist only and most likely cut into the palm of his left hand. His collarbone just under the place where most dress shirts start was covered in white scar marks. Hatsuharu was another resident assassin, and one of my two favorite partners. Haru was also a-

"Your in early..." Yukari's voice was rough and edgy, but I guessed that before he sat down and had coffee it was worse. I grinned and took a set on the counter on the left side of the sink. Aah...The 12 O'clock Coffee Break.

The room was the same gray and white colors, but the cabinets broke it up. The counter top and cabinets were a pail blue and sat in the corner near the door. Our mugs and knives and extra clothes were stored in the kitchen area in bins that sat in the other corner on the wall the sinks sat on. Sitting across from the sink was the table at which Yukari and Haru sat, the 4 chairs that circled around the square black and iron table. Another chair sat near the door, and one next to the fridge. The table was black and white marble to which we constantly compared Haru's hair, and knife marks made the once flat and smooth tabletop ridged around the edges. The corner of the square table was pushed into the corner of the room and made it hard for all five of us to sit at once. Hell, it made it hard for three of us to sit there at once.

A coffee maker sat next to me, and next to that sat a fridge. The fridge was white and blocked my view of the bins of our stuff, but it healed our coffee beans and lunches. There was a stove directly next to the door, then some counter space until the sink. That part of the counter was always covered in a cloth where weapons were placed wall being cleaned after a hunt. The coffee maker was bubbling like it should, and I sighed into my cup - taking a sip.

"Early appointment." I finally answered, leaning back again the cabinets.

"And you actually showed. I'm impressed." Shigure mentioned off hand from his positing standing. He was leaning up against the wall, bemused look on his face - holding a cup of coffee. His gray dress shirt had a tie looped in the collar, the yellow making his chocolate brown eyes stand out. His black dress slacks were crisp and ironed, his black dress shoes sparkling clean.

Shigure was the strongest person in the room, and we all knew it. The power that breathes lightly off of myself and heavily off the others was various degrees of cold, but Shigure's strength was warm - and it made all the difference. Not one of us ever went up against Shigure - power, or 'magic' wise- because if his power as strong as he was, we would be in trouble. If he wanted to, Shigure could push an 18-wheeler over without breaking a sweat.

He was the boss - the greedy money-grubbing bastard, and a lycanthrope. An Alpha werewolf to be exact. Most people fear lycan's because it's kind of like a disease that others can get, so most people who are a were-anything have a hard time getting a job. It's illegal to discriminate against lycans, but it happens. There aren't too many here in Japan - beside for the travelers, and they only come when the full moon was a week or two away- but the one's that are here tend to keep up the human appearance and just 'play' human. Most of them are good at it - Shigure happens to be very good - while others aren't very good. It's their beast that's the problem.

I've seen Shigure's chocolate eyes turn golden, and I've seen his entire body covered in the same black shade of his hair. Shigure is still a beast, but he has embraced his inner wolf and lived with it. So did we all.

And I think it was because Shigure was a lycanthrope that he started SCO, even though he's not an assassin of the undead or furry. He's a brilliant businessman, but knowledge won't give you the ability to kill your own kind. Shigure could howl and call all of his power that he wanted, but at the end of the night he wouldn't find shit. Vamps smell like death, but there's death all over the city. Shifters smell like animals, but they're all over the city too. He's great for night hunts and strong enough to fight, but most fights between shifter end in death and he would die if a vamp bit him. So instead he's the glorious businessman that run's the company.

It was because rare talents run through the Sohma family that he and Yukari started the business 8 years ago - fifteen years after Shigure was scratched. They weren't very big until I came into my little tracking powers, and from that we shifted into vamps as well as shifters. They collected Haru two years after me, and Sean the year after him. We were all in our 20's except Shigure, who was pushing 35.

"You should be." I finally responded to him, sipping my coffee again. I am not a morning person, despite the fact that it was 12 in the afternoon. I haven't had a wink of sleep for hours, so leave me alone. I sighed.

"Did you mark the appointment in your book?" Sean asked, leaning up against the counter top near the stove. Both of us looked out of place in our jeans and T's. Sean had me looking more and more like one of his friends back home - matching my shirt to my eyes, even though I couldn't see the color. I was slowly gaining a fashion sense...humph.

"No. I wrote it on my hand." I took another sip and rolled my head back and forth. My muscles we aching like crazy. Haru and me had pulled the all-nighter together, and it was taking beating on my neck. I almost broke it last year when a vampire threw me out of a window on a job. The same vamp tried to see if he could dissect my hand with shards of glass. 2 surgeries and some physical therapy later, I still had my hand (If you could call it that) and I could still move the rest of my body. Lucky me.

"Make sure you don't loose it then." Haru finally spoke up, a grin on his face. Though Haru hadn't been my back up with that one incident, it didn't take long for everyone else on the team to know that I had been chained down and had my hand dissected, walling at the top of my lungs for more. That one experience proved to me that if a vampire takes your mind they could make you want anything. I glared at him.

"As long as you don't 'accidentally' **rip** it off me, I'll be fine." I grinned at him, letting the smile light my eyes. He glared.

"Boy's." Yukari said lowly, putting his mug down. "You're both tired. Go home and get some sleep."

I snorted. " Yeah right. I have a shit load of paper work to go through, then appointments."

"I'll take some appointments tonight." Sean offered, swirling the coffee in his yellow mug. He shrugged at me then. "Can't take the paper work though."

We both looked at Shigure, who was looking down at his coffee like it was his life. I felt myself growl.

"Shigure, damn it." I slipped off the counter and put my mug down with a clink. I threw a line of power at him and grabbed onto his energy and pulled, making his head jerk toward me - what I normally did when tracking openly. His chocolate eyes were narrowed when he looked at me.

"Sure you can go home." He smiled then, eyes closed and genuine. I knew it was a lie, and that something would happen if I did. I turned toward the door without as looking back and was half way through it when he said something.

"-I'll just count it as a vacation day." The bastard whispered. I told you he was a basted! Damnit.

I pivoted on my heels and stalked back to my mug, hopping up on the counter and grabbing it as the same time. I settled myself against the blue doors and sighed into the cup of the now cooling coffee. I was too tired to fight with him for now, and as long as they shut up I could Zen myself enough to pretend I was getting rest-

"How did it go last night?" Sean's voice was too loud for my taste. I knew he was directing the question at Haru - blood splattered and all. I cleaned myself up already. Haru had a habit of walking around covered in blood.

"Good enough for a normal LVE kill." Haru's voice was soft, but chesty. He didn't like talking about the time on a job more then I did, maybe even less.

LVE is short for a Licensed Vampire Executioner, or executioners. They- like the title says- killed vamp legally. SCO was a company that had 4 listed Executioners on its roster, and we were damn good. There were rules to killing, of course, like the vamp needed 5 human kill's - not Turns, kills - in order to be hunted and executed. LVE were also strapped to jurisdictions, so in Haru's case he was an LVE-Jap1-4 - A licensed vamp killer for all the 4 quarters of Japan.

The country was split up into 4 quarters; the lower you go, the higher number. Haru was licensed in all 4 quarters, as was Sean. The two of them worked well enough together for protruding the section we lived in - the second quarter- and they were considered the best in this quarter. Rank was all that mattered in the quarters in Japan.

Here - in Japan - LVE's are ranked by their stationary and their moving kills; Stationary during the day and moving at night. The higher your moving kill was, the higher rank you had. The more stationary kills you had, the lower you ranked. The further away your two numbers were, the better you were considered. Though stationary kills are easier - they're seen as un-noble for most LVE's. Most LVE's kills were balanced with more day kills then night kills, but it was different with Haru.

Haru was ranked 1st for the second quarter of Japan for moving kills, and dead last for stationary. He was listed 8th for moving kills in all of Japan, and 12th for stationary.

Sean was pretty much the same. Ranked 3rd for moving kills and 2nd for stationary in the second quarter of Japan, wall ranked 12th for moving kills and 8th for stationary in all of Japan. But they weren't the only one's who got to have all the fun.

Yukari and I were part of the LIVE's, or the Licensed International Vampire Executions. Jurisdictions don't mean squat to us, so our kills can come from any country, anywhere. Were centralized in Japan though, so our cards say LIVE-Jap, licensed traveling vamp killers who come from Japan. Simple really.

Yukari's 2nd in over all Japan ranking for both moving and stationary kills, and I'm 3rd. The only reason he's ahead of me is because he passed the age you needed to be in order to take the test a few years before me. I was catching up on him though. I think the only reason Haru and Sean were ranks so high was because they were invited along with me and Yukari on our own kills. The two LVE's weren't old enough to take the test yet - Haru's 23rd birthday was coming through.

"Kyo!" I jumped and slid off the counter in a fluid movement, crouching down in a good enough stance to draw a gun - witch I didn't have. Haru stood across the room, a passive smile on his face and a red-gray sack over his shoulder - his change of clothes. Everyone else had cleared out of the room, the mugs in a group on the table. One of Haru's long fingers was touching the very tip of his nose, and his smile widened when I noticed.

I stood up slowly, my heartbeat slightly quicker then normal. I must of reached my Zen zone...I didn't even hear them leave. I was glaring at Haru, who continued to smile.

"Mug's are yours, and Sean is taking your last two shifts." Humor was laced in his voice, his finger never leaving the tip of his nose. Last one to touch the tip of their nose cleaned up; kinda childlike, but we're all just little boy's in grown up's body's. Reluctantly I touched the top of my nose and Haru dropped his hand, laughing silently as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Hurray..." I mumbled to no one while I grabbed the mugs off the table and deposited them in the kitchen with a none to friendly sound. Laughter echoed around the office. Damnit, I hated working with family.

I slammed the door of my office closed and caught a glance of myself. Claw marks trailed down my right bicep and wrapped around my arm until my elbow. I had 146 stitches close that up, and I thanked God that the muscle hadn't ripped and that I didn't turn furry when the next full moon came. Normally I don't fight with most Lycanthropes or Therianthropes - the technical name for shifters, but sometimes vamps to defend them when asleep call them. The scars on my right arm were from a lycan - a werelion. She was the first werelion I ever met, and unfortunately she died with her master. Glass and surgical knives pretty much equally scared my left arms.

I dropped my gaze down to my left hand - it was truly mangled. White scare tissue crossed over the back of my hand in a 8 pointed star that was all lines and didn't connect except for the very middle point. The points continued around to the palm of my hand, cutting through my fingers wherever they wanted. Each one of the folds in my hand had been cut by a peace of glass by a master vampire - who was pissed at me for killing his flunkies. He was also the one who threw me out the window. He escaped from us that night, but two weeks later I shot him in the face with my left hand, then I happily watched the bastard burn.

I know I'm a sick bastard as well, but I've never tortured anyone other then that one master vamp - like torturing one thing doesn't mark me as a monster. My karma will smack me in the face later on for that, but truthfully it was worth it. I hate being tortured. Nothing will put you on my shit list faster then torturing me, and then I'll kill you. Simple as that. I'm their karma, and I don't really care if it will kill me in the end.

I dropped into my chair and stared at the vast amount of paperwork that Yosuki gave me. I checked the clock that hung over the door and noted that it was 12:30 am. Golly-freaken'-hurray. I had less then 8 hours until my first appointment. I leaned back in my chair and kicked my feet up on my desk and sighed. I lightly wondered what it was like outside - we were in a basement office, fitting for an Executioner company.

I wondered for a moment what day it was. Time is really irrelevant to me. All I need to know is if it's dark to work. I knew it was some time in spring because I noted the cherry blossom trees were in bloom on the kill last night. I let my eyes drift closed.

The kill last night had been easy enough that I let Haru take control of the situation. Two vamps - male and female - fled from their kiss and slaughtered an entire block. We managed to catch them in the act of killing a mother of two sons and destroyed them. We were able to burn one of them in time before the sun came up, but the other burnt with the morning rays. I didn't feel a drop of pity for it.

It... Like it had never been human in the first place. But you need to forget that those things once had souls, they once had lives. If you don't, you go crazy. You can't think of dead bodies or walking corpses animated by magic as people - they're things. You don't want to know if they ever had families - children and a husband or a wife. If they were getting married next month or next week, if they're two classes away from finishing their English degree. They need to become meat, or you drive yourself insane.

I am saved from one part of that insanity - I didn't dream of blood, and I couldn't if I wanted to. I would go to a room where I knew people had been killed and torn apart, and the room would only be painted in gray - not red. I've dreamed of floating in a vast ocean of gray, but it's not the same. I know that one day I'll be able to see that color again, and that day I will loose it. I have a lot of gray on my hands, and I fear the day it turns red.

So in a way I don't bleed. Nothing will suck anything gray from my body, and nothing will stab me until gray soaks my shirt. And just knowing that I'm relieved that can't see blood makes me feel like a total monster.

If you were to ask me if I knew who the monsters are - if they were the vamps of zombies or whatever, I would tell you I have an idea. Anyone who kills's another without a valid reason is a monster, weather they enjoy the killing or not. Food is not valid, nor is greed. Self-defense I could allow, but then most of the monsters would cry self-defense. One who contributes to needless death and torture is a monster.

Shigure isn't a monster - though some people disagree. Any lycan is a monster to those people, and in a way so am I. I've killed so many things for justice, so in a way I am a monster. I have 54 vamp kills under my belt nation wide, and for only being a LVE for 3 years that ain't too damn bad. I'm one of the best gray-coated monsters out there.

The phone in my office rung in a quiet little jingle, making my groggy eyes open. I blinked and found Haru relaxing in the chair across from me, legs crossed at the ankles and hands behind his head. He had changed out of his dirty white undershirt into a black one, and black new jeans covered his legs. His eyes were closed lightly, mouth slightly open in sleep. His face was clean and pale.

I glanced at the clock as I grabbed the phone - ceasing its jingle. It was 4: 45, and I felt myself grin. Every once in a while, a 4-hour nap is very nice.

I spoke in hushed tones with a lawyer who had a client convicted of murdering a young woman. The murdered young woman happened to be a vamp. She wanted to know if I would be able to come to the courtroom and tell the jury how you would go about killing a vampire, and weather or not anything would hurt them. Normal people tend to be ignorant about theses things.

"How long would the questioning be?" I asked, forcing the grogginess out of my voice. I hadn't slept in my bed for more then an hour this week. I could hear it calling to me all the way from my apartment now. I forced the thought of home away and focused on what she was saying, on work. I could survive on 4-hour naps like a pro.

"Only a half an hour, a full hour tops. We really need you for this Sohma." Sara Kimihiro worked a law firm that used SCO as it's major informant on killing vampires or shifters, or an interpreter on how shifters/vamps would kill/eat/turn a person. For some reason I was their firm's favorite informant, but then again most of the layers who called me were female. Flattered? Slightly.

"How'd they kill her?" I pulled a blank corners report out of the top filing cabinet draw and close it quietly, writing in the vic's info that Sara gave me.

"Four blessed stake wounds to the hands and feet. She was hung on a cross and left for morning." Oh, _yummy_. That's always a fun way to be sacrificed... I nodded to myself and wrote it down.

"No problem then, I'll d o it for you. Price is the same as always; just get it in before tomorrow morning. You know how Shigure pulls a fit."

"I do indeed." I heard the smile in her voice. Sara was a nice enough girl, but she liked boys with money. Her and Shigure had gone out for a while, but it never affected the relationship with the law firm. As long as I brought in money, Gure was fine with me working with them.

"I can get to you at...7 -no, make it 6 to be safe." I had a feeling that the Yosuki tracking was going to take a wile. The part of me that let me track things told me that - it agreed with my gut and my brain this time. Surprise, surprise.

"Why so early for me Kyon? Normally I get like...11 o'clock or something." He voice was sweet, but I knew she was grinning evilly. I shook my head.

"I only have one other job tonight. You get the early one, but its still second priority. I am giving myself time to get ready for the first job, so could we speed the questioning up a little?" I hear her sigh when I said it. I was starting to grin. I caught Haru's bleary eyes staring at me from across my desk. It made my grin grow.

"Oh poo. Aah well; I can get the judge and jury together by 6 no problem. Why you closing up shop so early today?" Yes, I would call Sara a friend. Not a close one, but close enough to talk to. She's a little nosey, but she's golden hearted. The worst thing she's ever see is me show pictures of a decapitated half-shifted werewolf, and that's saying a lot compared to what lives in Tokyo - in Japan...

"No, but I'm beat twelve ways till Thursday. Did you really just say 'Oh, poo'? How old are you?" The 'Oh, poo' comment got me a weird look from Haru, who was cracking his back and getting himself comfortable in the chair again.

"You should not ask a lady her age. It's rude." He voice was snobby. I grinned.

"Sorry. Forgot you was a lady."

"Yeah, sorry. Forgot you were a** bastard**." She shot back, and I could hear her grinning again.

"Funny. Now what court house do you want me to be at?" I asked, and she told me. I wrote it on top of the corner's sheet.

"You sure you're taking the rest of the night off?" She asked again, and I leaned back in my chair - putting my feat up again.

"Yea, but I'm going home after I see you guy's. I haven't slept in a few days. I need a bed and a good shower." I yawned to accent the statement, and Haru mumbled 'Amen to that.'

"Sure you don't want to accompany me to Noel's? I'll buy..." This happened every time I talked to women from this damned firm. I haven't met a man that works with them yet, but I'm afraid for any man that does. The girls were sex starved. I shook my head, even though she couldn't see.

"No. I'll pass on drinks tonight, but thanks. I'm going home to bed."

"Sure you don't need company?"

"No, and I don't need anyone to help me undress either. So don't even ask." Haru gave me an odd look.

"Fine. Spoil sport."

"See you tonight Sara." I hung up on her, and sighed. Haru was grinning at me, and I just glared at him - trying very hard not to smile.

"How come you always get the girls?" He asked, standing up and cracking his back again. The scar's that marred his collarbone showed up better when he was wearing black, but he made no effort to hide them. I guess that once you get gnawed on by a vampire you kinda want to show off the fact that you lived through it. Kind of like a bullet wound from combat. I felt the same way - I only showed off the scars that would be acceptable to show in the work place. I had a pretty cool knife wound that cut across my last pair of abs, but I needed low riding pants and a shirt that was to short in order to show them. I may dress down in the office, but that's a little to dressed down.

I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my back as well. I yawned again and scratched the back of my head - mussing my hair up more so it stuck up in those awkward angles short hair likes to stick up in. I let one eye sag half way closed wall the other one stayed open - and I did my best not to grin.

"Cuz they like me more." I said simply, my smile coming back in full force.

"That's hard to believe." He smiled back, putting his hands in his black pair of jeans. I noted his Browning safely tucked into the holster on his left side, and the knives that sat in their black sheathe on each of his calves. The sheaths are pure black, and only the silver glint of the hilt told me that the knives were tucked in place. The gun was most likely locked and fully loaded with our specially made vamp killing ammo - Silver billets made from melted down blesses crosses, full of holey water. Truthfully, the bullets will work on both and vamp and a shifter, but they're expensive. 'Save the bullets for dangerous times only,' Shigure had told us, 'Knives are cheaper to replace then a box of the holey bullets.'

"You on your way to a kill?" I asked the stupid question. No one was ever dressed in weapons if they' weren't going out. He put his hand on the butt of the gun and the other on his waist.

"Nope, just seeing how they make me look in this outfit." He gave me a flat look and checked the clock. "Can you give me a ride?"

I checked the clock to, finally grabbing the folded peace of paper that Yosuki had pressed onto my desk. It released with a flutter of his old magic that made the hole in my chest feel like it was numbing again. It actually made me look down at me chest to see if the hole was there. There was nothing.

"Sure, I'll give you a ride." I yanked my gaze from my chest and pulled open the top draw, yanking out my ring of keys and my wallet. I slipped the wallet in the back of my pants and closed the draw. Upon opening the second draw, I pulled out my holster and secured it over my shirt, letting the uncomfortable feeling of wearing a shoulder holster and a short-sleeved shirt sooth me. It's something normal.

A quick trip to the locked bins in the kitchen to grab my baby - a 44. Remington Magnum, and my two other appendages - my knives. One was a short silver blade with a grove down the middle. The blade was about as long and my hand -from the bottom of my palm to the tip of my middle finger. It's a regular knife with a simple black handle and a plain leather sheath. It slips on to my semi-intact left forearm, and it's the best throwing knife I've ever had.

The other one is an fully black blade that's as long as my forearm. The knife - or short sword -sits on my left calf for and easy cross draw. The hilt of the knife was leather-bound and fit easily into my hand. It slid into my hand like it belonged there, my fingers fitting into normal groves they made in the leather. I strapped the both into their respective places on my body and felt totally comfortable and quite confident in myself. I was a very good shot with both my hands - despite the fact that the skin on the palm of my left hand split every time I healed the gun - and the same goes for my aim with the smaller knife. I was practicing with my short sword in some spar time by myself, and I'm getting pretty good ant swinging that around like I knew what I was doing.

Me and Haru slid into my Jeep 4x4 a little after 5 and made my way toward the Tokyo courthouses, dropping Haru off near Noel's before making my way there. I hoped with all my heart that tonight would be and easy tracking, and I could go home before anything bad really happened. I really did not want to interact with anything that goes bump in the night - vampires being at the top of my list.

Unfortunately, my wish would not be granted....

**(End of Chapter One)**

Ranting: Well this is the new fic. Hope I caught your interest, and I hope some people tell me to continue.

Date finished: August 24th, 2004.

Date Edited: October 8th, 2004. 7:20 p.m.

Ja!

SAL-Chan


	2. The Proposition

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed at if not ignored. The works of many has inspired this and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these ideas are mine. But most are -

AN: I'm starting to write the second chapter before the first one is even out, so I don't even know if reader like it or not. Frankly, I like it - and that's really all that matters. (No, I lie. I would love it if you guy's liked this story. I just say that to make me feel better if the story's crap.) The first chapter was really an introduction, a prologue really. In this chapter, something will actually happen, and a plot/ conflict will make itself known. So buckle you're seatbelts lady's and gents, this is looking to be a _very _interesting chapter...

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

**Chapter Two: The Proposition**

_Mikona Cemetery, Shinjuku, Japan. _

_ Wednesday, 20: 50 _

The moment my foot touched the gravel drive, I knew I shouldn't have gone.

The directions Yosuki gave me led me to Mikoan Cemetery, a small piece of land about thirty minutes away from the outskirts of Shinjuku, really closer to Ushigome then Shinjuku. I knew the place - I've chased groups of rampaging vampires through it once or twice- but it was the first time I would ever meat a client in a cemetery. The thought unsettled my stomach a little, but that was nothing new. I hate graveyards.

I shut my Jeep door with an echoing bang and scanned the dark horizon. The sun had set about an hour ago, letting darkness fully capture the sky when I first drove through the cemetery gates. It was dead quiet out here - excuse the pun...

Ivory angels looked out over the almost flat land, gracing the dead with their forever unchanging faces and their eternally falling tears. Wings fanned out into the air as if they were about to take flight, while others' wings were folded contentedly behind the stone winged children. Crosses stuck up sparingly in the air, mixing with the angels to break up the almost flat land. Cold marble headstones were scattered in-between and around the pillars of belief. If the dead only knew how breathtaking their resting places were, they would be even more envious of the living.

The grass stood high, hiding some of the footstones. Most of the land was covered in the yellow-green grass, the color of grass when it's in need of some major rain. It hadn't rained lately, but I could smell rain coming in the air. I felt it coming in my knees.

A great willow sat on a slight hill above all of it, letting its long limbs stretch out toward the angles and headstones around it. Some branches were tangled around random crosses and angels' wings, like the tree was trying to hold onto the memory the monuments symbolized. The darkness stretched around the tree and leaked through the leaves, light stars speckling the sky. There were almost no street lights out this far, so it was dark enough to see some stairs.

The whole scenery would have been beautiful...except for the fact that I had the worst sinking feeling in my gut.

I rubbed my thumb over my cross under my shirt and then touched the butt of my gun - a nervous habit I picked up from my other part-time partner. Though he normally then touched every other fire arm and knife he had on him, I normally ran a hand through my hair and sighed. I did run a hand through my hair, but I suppressed my sigh. I wasn't that nervous yet.

I checked that my jeep was locked, the made a cross over my chest with my hand (another picked up habit when in or near a grave yard) and made my way toward the old looking willow. It was about 8: 52, but I liked being early for meetings - even by a little bit. I could scout out the area before he came. At least, I hoped I was early and he wasn't standing on the other side of the tree waiting for me...

The only noise in the cemetery was the grass being stomped under my feet as I made my way around head stones. I felt my heart hammering in my chest and I heard my blood rushing through my ears. My breath came in quiet and quick gulps and I strained to hear anything. Paranoid? Me?

The sight that greeted me at the top of the willow's hill was not a happy one.

An open grave sat just around the great willow, fresh dirt crowded to the side of it - complete with shovels stuck in the still moist soil. The hole in the ground was an abyss of darkness, a bottomless pit. The moon peeked out from behind a cloud and illumined the grounds, shadowing the grounds and casting an eerie shadow in the hole. I felt my stomach drop out as I stared down into the empty hole. It wasn't every night that you saw an open grave...

I became instantly still, staring at the hole in the ground. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood at attention, and the utter stillness of the night captivated me. I was encased in silence so thick I felt like I was trapped, writhing in it. My stomach was suddenly trying to fold in on itself, and the creepy feeling increased ten-fold...

A dry wind swept across the graveyard, and it wasn't anything - cold, warm, moist, or crisp. Wind normally feels like one of those, but this wind seemed to move right around me, making the willow dance and leaving my shaggy hair still on my head. I felt the bottom of my heart drop out, I felt my body still, and I felt all feeling die in my eyes. Suddenly there was no noise that I couldn't hear, no movement that I couldn't see. I had entered my White Place, my Zen zone. I could do anything and not feel a drop of any emotion when in my White Place. It was a very dangerous ability.

I turned and pulled my gun as quickly as could, clicking the safety off and aiming one-handed before the words "Sohma-San-" reached my ears.

Yosuki was standing on the other side of the open grave, slightly down hill - about 15 feet away. The sleeves of his light blue dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and the first two buttons were undone. His hair was still pulled back, but the mass of hair wavered in the wind I still didn't feel. The black strip of his sunglasses cut across his face harshly in the night, contrasting the paleness of his skin. His lips were parted, and his delicate eyebrows were raised in obvious surprise. Bet the little bastard didn't think I could move that fast...

The moment I saw him I threw a Running Rope around him. It's liked like a hunter's - which I am, technically - leash on one of their dogs. It was only temporary for tonight, so I could feel him move rather then keep my eyes on him all the time. I normally did that to anyone I went out with, but I wanted to watch Yosuki without having to keep my eyes on him. The rope made him shut his mouth quickly with a quiet little snap that I barely heard. I was still in my white area, I could hear very well...

It was then that I tasted magic in the wind. Strong magic tastes like sugary plastic, and it had the ability to suffocate you. The wind was all magic, ominously avoiding my aura space. Thus the reason I didn't feel the wind. I can put 2 and 2 together and get 4, but all I had at the moment was 3 and a half. If the wind magic wasn't from me, and from my rope I knew it wasn't from Yosuki. I knew Yosuki could do this if he wanted, but it wasn't him. That meant there were more 'people' here...and yes, I quote the 'people' part.

Then I saw Yosuki smile, and then I got 4. It was a trap. A trap. Shit, shit, _shit_! I knew it. Damn!

"Damn!" It slipped from my lips before I had time to think to stop it, and my White Place fell away with a rush of adrenaline. Crap, my aim was shot to hell until I could concentrate again. I felt the ache that came with holding a stance for too long lace up my arms, and my muscles twitched. I still didn't drop my aim totally, only sighted down the barrel. My natural talent for shooting was gone for a moment, so I had to compromise.

"Sohma....please, know that I'm regretful to do this-"

"Don't be coy, damnit! Now tell me exactly what you did." I almost spat it him as another tremor ran up my arms. Remember I said before that torturing me will put me on my shit list faster then you can say 'Damn'? Well tricking me is pretty high up there on the list as well. I** hate** being f'ed with, in most meanings of the word.

"I asked you to come." He said it simply as another fake gust of wind carried his hair away with it.

"You damn well should be regretting this!" I snapped back, trying in vain to keep my un-directed anger under control. Something was out there that I needed to find. I was about the throw a tracking line around the graveyard to find whomever, but Yosuki's voice stopped me-

"I wouldn't." It was sharp, and it brought my attention back to him. "Don't even try."

"Why shouldn't I?" I snapped back, feeling my muscles shutter again. His face became very serious all of a sudden, all emotion draining from his face and body.

"Leave."

I blinked. "What?"

"Leave now." He said again, gaining some force in his voice. He flicked some copper hair away from his face with a swift flick of his hand. I felt his eyes on me like a lead weight. It was almost pushing-

"Why?" I brought my gun up and aimed down my arm. The movement refreshed all the muscles in my arm and I was able to hold the gun without it shaking again. He bit his lip, and then took three steps forward with his long legs. We were now ten feet apart.

"Don't ask questions. It's better if you know nothing and forget I ever met you. Leave now and save yourself a lot of grief." His voice was monotone but dangerous. Seriousness fit him very well.

"Like hell!" I mentioned offhandedly as the wind picked up around Yosuki. The willow's branches flapped in the wind, adding a little needed noise to the night. "You think I'll walk away after you go and pull some stunt like this? 'The hell do you want? To kill me, or something?"

"I'm not the one who wanted the meeting with you. Just trust me and leav-" He cut himself off abruptly, snapping his jaw shut. I felt him tear his gaze from me to look behind himself, and then slowly turned it back to me. The breeze picked up around him, flinging his hair over his shoulder. The willow's branches shuttered and flew away from us. I felt the magic in the air thicken, and I felt my eyes widen.

"What the hell is going on?!" My voice was thin and shaky as I tried to shout over the wind. I've never seen magic indirectly move nature before. The Earth has a mind of its own when it comes to magic, and it doesn't like things messing with almost as much as I did. I locked my eyes on Yosuki, chills falling down my spine - and realized a few moments to late that I should have run the hell away...

"Too late." He said simply, and then the wind picked up. I heard snapping noises as the willow's branches broke off from the tree to fall to the ivory angles and marble crosses below. The grass was almost lying down against the ground, and Yosuki's hair was waving a few feet away from me. The thing that disturbed me the most was that I saw all this happening, but I didn't feel a lick of the wind.

The suddenly - like a flip of a switch - everything stilled again. And looking into Yosuki's grim face, I knew I should have ran...

I should really listen to my insistences more often. I knew coming was a bad idea, but I came anyway. I knew something bad was now going to happen, but I didn't run. I'm such a little shit-

"Kyo Sohma." I couldn't move. All my muscles cramped at the same time, and my eyes widened even more. All the alarm bells went off in my head, and it felt like a warm sponge had wiped off the top of my brain. I felt my cross grow warm under my shirt and it was a sharp contrast to the chill my body had taken.

The chill of a vampire.

I turned - painfully so - and looked behind myself to where the voice came from.

He looked about his late twenties, early thirties. His face was clean and pail, free of anything that would take your sight off his eyes. His hair looked older then he did, a dark gray with strands of white in it. It was long and cut away from his face, tied back into a low and loose ponytail that hung far down his back. His charcoal pressed three-piece suite fit his body loosely and comfortably. His dress shirt was black, making his entire gray self look darker. I would tell you his eye color, but rule one is; you never look a vampire in the eyes. It's not sane...

He stood tall, with his hands in his pockets, and power prickly blew out from him. The confidence that radiated from him made me instinctively take a step back. I was more armed to track a shifter - I didn't expect a vampire to just show up like this. After a moment of thought on whom the worse evil was, I swung my arms around and sited down the gun toward the vampire.

"I offer you no violence, Sohma, yet you point a gun at me? Do you know no manners?" His voice elegant, no really hint of any emotion as he said it. He was right, I had not been offered any violence, and so I simply lowered the gun - not putting it away or clicking the safety.

Damn vampire politics...

"Vampire manners don't help me much." It was low. I was slipping into my White Place again. Thank God. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want with me?"

The Vampire shook his head, laughing a laugh that sent shiver down my back. "Must it be about you, Sohma?"

"You sent your lackey to bring me to you." I jerked my head toward Yosuki, my face scrutinizing. "And since we're the only peop-...'things' here, I guessed so."

"I'm not his lackey." Yosuki's voice was strong, and suddenly he was standing next to me, facing the vampire. I spun and pointed the gun at him, backing up three or four steps. I hadn't felt him move with my rope. That was bad. My heart was pounding in my chest like a caged bird. I had the worst cottonmouth ever. Nothing to send the White Place away like a big ass hit of fear, ne?

"The hell you aren't...what do you want?" It was a comeback, albeit soft. I heard movement a moment later - the movement of someone who had to walk, like the rest of us mortals - as woman stepped out form behind the willow, making the grass move under her feet.

She was gangly, her limbs seemed long on her thin frame. Her body was skinner then normal, like her bones would show through her skin. Her thin black tank top fit her chest loosely, the dark color making her almost white shin seem to glow. Her skirt was tied by a red ribbon around her waist, the skirt a soft black velvet that reached a little past her knees.

Her face was striking, even though it looked as if the fullness it once had was sucked out. Her cheeks were thin but strongly built, her mouth set in a firm line. Her auburn brown hair was light, turning ever so gray to my eyes. I was betting it was on the reddish side of brown, all in all a pretty color in my semi-colorblind state. Her eyes were what bothered me the most though. They were gray - and I could tell by the coloring that it wasn't my red-gray I was seeing. Her eyes were really the color gray, and for some reason I knew they weren't that color when she was born. It was a pitiless gray, like something very important had been sucked out of her body and it showed in her eyes. In fact, that was probably true by the way she look...

I've only seen one other person in her condition, someone by the name of Audrey Sain. She was an Irish woman from way back in the day who had been bound to a vampire by a blood promises. She had signed over her soul in order to keep her young daughter alive. She had looked like a walking corpse when I met her. She had walked away with pitiless eyes as well, told me that it was probably from a break in the contract between the vampire in question and herself.

The only question with this woman would then be whom was she once connected to?

"This-" The vampire said, gesturing toward the woman, then to himself, and then toward the tree. "is Honda Kyoko. My name is Kazuma, and that's Hiro."

The last name made me spin around to look toward the tree. Within the branches was a little boy, maybe 12 years old. His hair was a dark light honey color crossed with wheat, cut short around his ears. His face was very pointed for his young looking body, barley able to hold his large tree-bark brown eyes. His eyes were very faded around the pupil, but always very bright and hungry. His thin and small frame showed him as a little boy, and it would for the rest of his eternal life - and I'm saying eternal as in as-long-as-he's-not-out-in-the-sunshine long. Vampire long.

Tonight he was wearing a plain pair of brown pants and a thick black belt. The rest of his pale and unblemished skin was out for the night air to touch. It was then that I realized how the wind had become so strong - Hiro's control over his flying ability was prefect - but _just_ a bit windy. Yeah, right.

"We've met..." I said briefly toward the child-vampire, who laughed out loud when I turned from him to Kazuma. It was a very dark and child-like laugh - it unnerved me even more then I was at the time. If Hiro was here, it meant that some badass stuff was happening. "...but the reason I'm here still isn't very clear."

"I want you to find my daughter." Kyoko's voice was as strong as I thought it would be, very level and very serious. I stared at her, my gun still pointed toward Kazuma, and blinked.

"Your daughter's missing? Why not got to the police."

"The police are idiots." she said simply, blinking back at me. Her eyes were very deep, and very forcefully - and very heavy as well. This woman had seen many things that could scar the body and the heart...

"Was she taken by another vampire? A shifter?" I asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "No."

I felt my arm start to twitch again. Shit. "Was she kidnapped?"

She started looked like she was going to say something, but-

"-Yes." Kazuma interjected, stepping closer to Kyoko and placed his hand on her shoulder. The woman stilled instantly. "She was kidnapped, and Honda-san wants her back."

I shook my head. "I don't do police work-"

"She was taken because she has power." Kazuma stated, and I felt Yosuki tense. I almost jumped as the feeling of the running rope came back into my mind. He was almost back to back with me, and for some strange reason I trusted him there for the moment. I could tell by the way he was dismissed that he wasn't with Kazuma and company. Even though he sold me out, I hated these guys more then him for the moment. He was probably just doing what that old saying says; the enemy of my enemy is my friend...or something like that. As of right now, I was Kazuma's enemy, and Yosuki was my friend...kind of...I would still kill him if I had the chance. Damn bastard...

I blinked at him, adjusting my stance so the acid that built up in my arms could swish around in there again and refresh my muscles.

"Why should I help a vampire? I'm against you guys, remember?" I asked, the weight of both Kazuma 's gaze - as well as Kyoko's - making me nervous and fidget. I adjusted my aim again.

"That's the same thing I said." Hiro's immature voice came from the tree branch he was sitting on. I didn't turn to him. "Why ask a lazy, no-good slayer for help? Don't ask me, I only know how your sorry ass so-called skills suck-"

"Quiet, Hiro." The older vampire snapped, and Hiro shut up immediately with a small 'humph' of annoyance. I could see the hierarchy starting to develop, and it didn't look like I was any closer to the top then Hiro was.

"I can't help you. I kill, I don't get back anything." I said grumpily. That made Kazuma frown in the play-acting way.

"But Sohma, you just agreed to track something today, and get it back alive." Damnit! I knew the moment I saw Yosuki this morning that this wasn't a good idea. Crap, crap...think Kyo...find a way out of this. You're good at this kind of stuff...

"I can't help you." I said again, taking my aim one more. I had a feeling that if said 'no' a few more times, the peace the dead hoped for on their resting grounds would be broken by blood - most likely mine.

"You could help more then you know..." Kazuma said lowly, and he lit the fuse. This toying around was pissing me off quicker then I though it would. Knowing vampires, Kazuma brought Hiro to piss me off. Lucky him, it was working. I didn't not want to be in the company of that...thing. I was told to keep my anger in check when around vamps too, because they push back harder. I decided to end it, and get the hell out of here.

"I'm not going to help you." I changed one word, and I meant it. I slowly lowered my gun and took a step back, then a few more. The more steps I took, the warmer the smile on Kazuma's face became. I turned on my heal a moment later and came face to face-..well, face to lower chest with Hiro. The little vampire's eyes had bled all bark brown, and he had a smile on his face that let his fangs show. I stared down at him, and I slipped into my white place that instant. I let him see my dead eyes, and his smile just widened.

I moved as fast as I could, and a moment later my gun was lying on the side of Hiro's head, and the little vampires hand lay over my heart - nails pointed and sharp. We both froze on the spot, staring into each other's eyes. Hiro's eyes didn't effect me like others did, maybe because he had fed from me when we were both new to this game - I'm not sure. I was immune to his eyes, as well as his mind games. Luck me...

"Try it," he tested, eyes unafraid. "I'll kill you before you pull that trigger."

"We would both be dead." I said quietly. "My fingers are as fast as your hand. My job is easier, you have to push through bone and muscle while all I do is pull."

A low hiss made its way from him, and it sounded a lot like a cat's hiss. It looked so wrong coming from a child's face that I almost lost my mental balance. I knew that one day me and Hiro would square it up - I was the reason he had knife marks in his back, and he was the reason for the scars on my knee.

"...Kyo...her name is Tohru, and she 19." Kyoko's voice carried over my White Place with an earth shattering desperation. "She works in a soup kitchen Thursday and Friday nights from 6: 30 to 11, and she gives all her old clothes to charities. She's interning at a hospital in the pediatric department, working with kids that have cancer. She comes home almost ever week and tells me that another one of her friends died, knowing she could have helped but wasn't allowed. She's attached to this little girl named Asa who has a brain tumor and has about...the rest of this week to live. The hospital called me yesterday and said that she's been asking for Tohru. The only person she's asking for is Tohru..."

I found myself staring down at the top of Hiro's head, my gun dangling at my side. The vampire had let his hand fall to his side as well and was staring around me toward Kazuma. I turned too, wanting so much to see the woman's face that was speaking, to see if she was lying to me. I prayed she was lying to me...

Gray lines ran from the corner of her eyes and dripped off her thin face to the ground. It was my type of gray, I could tell by the way it looked against her skin. Her face was set in perfect stone, but I saw the need to get her daughter back raw in her eyes. Her eyes were begging me to do it for her daughter, to do it for the little girl that I didn't know and would have never cared about if not men. The moment I saw the proud woman crying tears of blood for her daughter I knew I would be doing this whether I liked it or not.

I stared hard at Kazuma, keeping everything I could out of my eyes. "If I refuse, then what?"

Kazuma smiled and looked down at the open grave that separated us. The symbolism was very apparent.

"Then I guess I live if I do it, huh?"

"For the most part, yes." Kazuma answered, and I felt his power trickle out to brush mine. I almost flinched away, but I brought up my barriers before he could touch me. That was the only reason Yosuki had found the hole in me before - I let him touch my skin. I tried to glare at him the best I could, but without eye contact it was a little hard to get my point across.

"Will I be paid?" I asked, a very sharp edge to my voice.

"With your life, yes." Came the exact answer I expected. I stared at Kyoko's eyes one more time to try and remember to remind myself why I gave my answer.

"Then I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I asked with a grin, shrugging my shoulders. Kazuma smiled slightly and pulled a folder from his pocked and dropped it on the ground. Kyoko blinked at me and gave me the barest of smiles as the wind once again picked up around everyone but me.

"No..." I heard Kazuma say, his grin laced in his voice. It was at that moment that I locked eyes with him and found them an almost black gray of coal. His face suddenly became solemn, as he spoke slowly. "...no, you don't."

And with an updraft the two vampires and the mother who cried blood left me alone with a traitor in a graveyard with an open grave and a hell of a lot more to do tonight then I had originally planned to.

And the day had been looking up in the beginning. I wondered vaguely if I would see my apartment this century. Then I thought with my new work lode, probably not.

I had no idea what I just singed myself up to do in my free time. And staring down at that small manila folder, I knew I would do it never the less. And I still had dried blood spots on my face. It was always good to leave a meeting with dried blood spot on your face rather then wet ones.

Then I remembered I still had company...

**(End of Chapter Two)**

Ranting: Well I'm going to Florida in less then 9 hours. I really don't want to go...really.

Well I've just read that FF.N wont be allowing reviews for the next three days. I hope you will review when you get a chance...I'll be working on the 6th chapter of Collector, and the 16th chapter of SH, so I'll have work to do while I'm away. I sent chapter 15 of SH to Misaki, and I'm going to send chapter 3 to her today too. Hopefully I'll be able to find a cable connection down there to plug in as get my mail, as well as posting anything I can get... I really don' want to go.

Anyway...

AllHailSophietheQueen: Thank you! Review again sometime!

loon: Glad you liked it. I'm trying, but now that both I and my editor have school and plays going on, it's a little hard. Please come back and review again!

YumeTakato: I'm trying to be as witty as I can. Kyo has my humor. Sorry bout that -U and Your right, I didn't finish telling you.

Cat: Lol thank you. Again I'm sorry this took so long to get out. But review again for this chapter too!

HanaTenchiHimeko: Lol thanks. lad you liked this story too. I'm working on SH, don't worry. It's just taking a wile for everything to come together in my head. It will be finished soon though...but don't be sad. I'm very glad you like this. Please review again. It's always good to hear from someone who's reviewed so many times before.

Date Finished: September 12, 2004. 8: 14 p.m.

Date Edited: November 20, 2004. 6: 50 p.m.

Ja!

SAL-Chan


	3. The Hunt

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed if not ignored. This has been inspired by many people works and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these idea's are mine.

AN: Just finished the second chapter...2 minuets ago. It's 8: 16 p. m on September 12th, and I'm starting before the first chapters even out. That gives you an idea on how much I like this story...I don't even know how I'm writing any of these chapters. I'm working off a scratchy outline...Gods, I'm insane. I don't even know if anyone likes this story...

_Italics _ language change, English mostly

P.S.: Since I've never been to Japan, I don't know the differences in time's from one city to another. I'm working with a map of Japan that has like.... nothing on it. So if my times a little wrong, or I make up city names and such, don't get mad at me...please?

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

**Chapter Three: The Hunt**

Quiet had settled in instantly, leaving the graveyard as quiet as it had been before any other soul beside myself was here. I had continued to stare at the spot Kazuma was moments ago, absorbing everything that happened to take place. Shit...no one at work was going to believe the hole I dug myself this time. I glanced at the open grave and thought that was a **very** bad analogy.

A few simple strides around the hole and I was starring down at the folder. With a quick movement I grabbed the folder off the floor and opened it. There were three pieces of tea stained paper laying in the folder with hand written notes covering both the fount and the back, along with a glossy photo that sat in the back. I didn't even bother looking at any of the words or looking at the picture. A lot of damn help they were gonna give me at the moment...

A wind pushed its way across the graveyard - the first wind I had felt all night. It moved the old willow back into its fulmar places, letting small branches tangle on angels' wings again. It fluttered its way across my face and moved my hair away from my eyes. I slowly clicked the safety on and slipped the Magnum back into its resting place, then clipped it shut. I tapped the butt of the gun, touched my cross - that had grown cold once again -under my shirt, ran and hand through my hair, and sighed.

I pulled lightly and my running rope and pulled it off. I turned toward Yosuki, a sudden calm settling in my stomach. He stood there equally still and I could feel his eyes resting on mine. My calm was sinking deeply into my heart, but vaguely I felt my hands shaking. The fingers on my left hand were almost completely numb. I had almost no circulation in the hand, but as I flexed my fingers I felt the wetness in the palm of my hand. I didn't have to look down to know middle of the star on my palm had opened again.

"There's no shifter, is there Yosuki?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I felt him blink at me, and then he smiled.

"No, and my last name isn't Yosuki."

"Then what is it?"

"It's Atsuo. Just, Atsuo..."

"Just Atsuo? Like...Madonna, or Cher?" He gave me an odd look. I shook my head at him and waved my bleeding hand. "Never mind."

"It was business, Sohma," he said simply, defending what had just happened. I gave him a look.

"Business with a vampire?"

"I'm free now," he said it like I should have known all along. I gave him a look. He shook his head at me and waved his hand. Bastard. "You wouldn't understand..."

"_No shit_." I cursed at him in English, and I felt him blink at me. I was suddenly tired. I shut the folder and turned to go.

"Would it help if I apologized about this?" He said, and I stopped in mid step. I turned back to look at him, letting him see how tired I was in my eyes. I felt my hands give another wild twitch before they settled again. Mild shock that always seems to come with meeting a vampire - let alone two, one of which was the cause of a few months of nightmares and the sole cause of my insomnia. They were all going to come back to me now, just after I had moved on to the dissection of my hand and the pleasure it caused. Well damn, I liked the new one's _so_ much more. It's like picking between a rock and a hard place.

"Not very much. It would help, but not much."

"I apologize anyway. Business is business..." And with that Yosuki-...I mean Atsuo turned and walked off toward the darkness that eats at all graveyards. I sighed again and made my way quietly to the Jeep that look very out of place in the middle of the cemetery. I unlocked it and slid onto the black cloth seat and put the folder on the seat next to me, shutting the door with a loud slam.

_ I will not hyperventilate, I will not hyperventilate... _

I set my head on the steering wheel ungracefully, glancing at the clock out of the corner of my eye. It was nine on the dot. The whole confrontation took six minutes altogether, but it felt like a shit load of stuff just happened in a few hours - not seconds. I thought for a moment about going home and sleeping forever, and then my cell phone sprang to life on my dashboard, singing at me. I stared at it for a moment, wondering whether or not to take the call.

I'm too good of a person. I sat back and snatched the phone off the dash, looking at the number. It was Sean. I flipped the phone open almost immediately. We normally never call each other unless the other's help is needed.

"Yeah?" My voice sounded as tired as I felt. I tied once again to concentrated on the thing that was happening now.

"How long will it be till you get here?" His voice was almost drowned out by sirens and others voices.

"Where are you?" I almost yelled to compensate for the noise he was surrounded by.

"Hongo!" His voice was just about drowned out. Then suddenly with a snap all the background noise was shut out, muffled to a dull roar. I heard him panting lightly on the other end of the phone. He repeated, "Hongo."

I blinked, even though he couldn't see me. "Hongo? The hell? My nine o'clock tonight was at Ginza. What the hell are you doing an forty-five minutes away from there?"

"They ran the hell away, that's what," he said as a voiced yelled in the background. Panic, it sounded like panic. Shit

"What's going on?"

"_Four suckers broke away from their kiss."_ His English was a hell of a lot better then mine - No shit - but my limited English helped out when we didn't want anyone else to understand what we were saying. He probably was around reporters. That's the only time we switch languages. "_A master and three little ones. The have seven kills already, four females and three males, all 25 or younger. They're club hopping, and not caring who sees them." _

"Well… shit," I said, snapping my seatbelt on and getting the car started. I pulled out of the cemetery at 9: 02 and floored it, heading toward the expressway. I cut from the expressway to the back roads with mild traffic. I would be there in an hour - maybe less. "How the hell did you get there so fast?"

"Set phoned me after he called the office asking who was on this one. He's stuck in Ginza now; he called me a few minutes ago, telling me that he had to stay for damage control. Told me to call you. Sorry if I cut you appointment off."

I blinked, sidetracking for a second. "Setsu's back from Bangkok?"

He laughed for a second, and then sobered as someone said something to him that I couldn't here. I slipped onto another emergency road and floored it. The road was empty except for my little Jeep. "Yeah, he flew in this morning."

"His day might suck more then mine is."

"What happened?"

I sighed. "I can't explain now. I'll tell you when I see you. Where in Hongo are you?"

He told me the street name. It was quite close to the University of Tokyo. I knew the area well. He stayed on the line while I manage to write the street name on my hand and drive over 60 at the same time. Whoever said I couldn't multitask was a big, fat liar. Screw you, Shigure.

"What's up?" I said, dropping the pen on the folder next to me. We normally hand short conversations over the phone. Street name said, and it was a mutual hang-up.

"It's bad." I raised my eyebrow at the phone.

"Bad as in bloody bad?" I heard him shake his head. A woman's voice almost flooded the phone, and I heard him moved it aside as they exchanged a muffled conversation. A moment later he came back.

"No, not bloody bad. That more regular then it should be for me. How much longer are you going to be?" His voice was growing hoarse. He was probably the only LVE there - we have a tendency to be the ones in charge when on a crime seen. I watched an exit sign fly by. That reminded me...

"Bout a half an hour. Where are you talking to me from?"

"The van outside the seventh victim's house."

"Where's the vamp?"

"That's why I needed to call you." Well damn, they had a loose vampire on their hands. He sounded desperate, "What should I do?"

I changed lanes a little more aggressively then I should have. I felt my eyebrow twitch. Me, an aggressive driver? Never! My stomach was still unsettled from the last vampire collection I was in the middle of. "What way are they heading?"

"North." I snapped open my glove compartment and pulled out my Little Black Book. Normally men have little black books with woman's names in it. My book was full of listed killers, executors, and illegal informants that the Japanese police would love to get their hands on. Shows you the status of my sad sex life.

"Ashiya lives in Sugomo." I said off-hand, flipping through my book to find her name. "She's the Tracker we worked with for the RainChaser Pack we hunted six months ago. I'll give you her number. She's probably much closer to you then I am." I gave him the number, and I heard him write it down on his hand. He still didn't hang up after that. I grunted and read another exit sign that flew past. 7 more exits. 20 minuets.

"What's so bad about this one?"

Apprehensive silence flooded the other end of the phone. I almost growled. "Sean?"

"They're just meat, Kyo." He said my mantra to me, and I knew it was bad. People were never just meat to Sean. I was afraid he was going to snap soon because of it. "That's all that's left."

"Shit." I muttered. "Call Ashiya. Tell her I'm asking for the favor. I'll be there soon." Exit 5 flew by.

"_Hurry_." was the final comment from him the phone beeped with the end of the call. I snapped it shut and let it fall to the floor next to me. I dumped my Little Black Book back into the compartment and pulled my LIVE badge out. Exit 4 flew by.

Tonight was not looking up at all.

_Twenty-Ninth and Main Street, Hongo, Japan. _

_Wednesday, 21: 56_

There were squad cars by the tenth's parked all over the place, lights flashing and yellow tape up all over the place. It looked like all of Hongo was on Twenty-Ninth and Main tonight. I had to park a mile away and jog through pedestrians and reporters to get to the yellow tape. The noise level was two notches below what an airplane engine sounds like. My 'excuse me's and 'get out of my way's were lost in the noise. I was reduced to shoving my way through the lines of people. That's another thing I learned; people tend to move out of the way if you have a naked gun on you.

I didn't look very detective-like in my red T-shirt and faded jeans, but my shoulder holster and knives made me look likes something to not be messed with. I slipped under the yellow tape and was making my way toward the black van when - finally - a uniform approached me, his hand on his gun.

Well shit, I was going to get into a fight with a cop. really don't like us that much unless we can save their sorry asses. I raised both of my hands above my head to show I wasn't holding any weapons, but that didn't make him let go of his. I felt hundreds of eyes on the back of my head. I guess anyone armed who walked on to a crime scene was like a flare in the night.

"Sohma Kyo, VE. I'm being expected." I half shouted to the officer, slowly pulling my license out of my back pocked and flashing it at him. Almost immediately he let go of his gun and rushed at me, a relived look on his face.

"Where's Dekoura?" I snapped at him before he had a chance to say anything. The uniform was about to say something when a muddled 'Sohma' was shouted over the noise. I turned back toward the crowed and found Ashiya ducking under the yellow tape and hurrying toward us. I grinned toward her.

"Long time no see, Ashiya." Ashiya Risa was a girl of her mid twenties who look about her teens. She stood shoulder to shoulder with me, which put her at five five. Her hair was a raven black that was cropped short, almost as short as mine. If you put her in a suit, she could pass for a man when you looked at her from behind, as long as the suit wasn't form fitting. Her face was anything but masculine.

She had doe brown eyes and full lips that never seem to stop smiling. She looked at ease in a black long sleeved dress shirt and dress pants. Her shoes were black Nikes, like mine. Her holster was a dark black leather that was almost invisible against her shirt. Two knives were strapped to her forearms, and two to her calves. I watched her address me with plain, dead, doe brown eyes, and a smile lit her face.

"Not so long, Sohma. I thought you weren't going to be here."

I shrugged. "I managed."

"In no time flat I see. I made it in thirty-five. You must have flown here." We started moving toward the van, and she flashed her LIVE badge toward the uniform. I spotted Sean talking with a group of officers around the other side of the truck. He looked very panicked, and they looked very scared. All he had added to his outfit from this afternoon was a shoulder rig and a high-powered riffle that was slung across his back. Maybe it was just me, but Sean look a lot less imitating with more guns then with less.

As one, Ashiya and I shouted "SEAN!"

He turned, and even from feet away I could see the relief wash through him. I could also see the relief wash through the officers around him. I picked up a jog and headed through the officers to him.

"The situation?" Ashiya beat me to it. Sean grinned at her.

"Two dead inside, and I've seen no movement. I think they're long gone from here. Heading toward Komagome."

"We ready to fly?" I asked, touching the butt of my gun. Sean pulled a roll of paper out of his back pock and showed it to us.

"Four legalized execution papers. We're ready to follow you guys any time. Just give us the word."

I looked at Ashiya, and she looked at me. I shrugged, and then turned back to him. "Word."

Sean eyes lit up, and a grin captivated his face. He spun to face the officers and said, "Hit your cars, guys! This is gonna be a wild ride!"

I sighed and shook my head, then the weight of a Running Rope slipped around my neck. I turned toward Ashiya and found her doe eyes pitch black, a smile on her face. I laced one around hers as well. "Grab the trail, and I'll follow your lead." she said.

"It's your area." I said.

"It's your favor." she said. I smiled, and then I cast my ability around us.

Being a Tracker is like being a dog - I've overheard us call that by some cops. Truthfully, that's what we become, without the whole shape-shifting part. So is sent my tracing aura around us - I let it flow from the hole in me, and instantly I was able to see the aura's of anyone who had been in the area. Dogs track with smell like they see it, and so do we - but with aura and magic instead of the nose and smell thing.

Sean's leftover aura was a light lime-green color toward my left, and I knew that somewhere in the group of cops that had surrounded us a moment ago was a physic with a purple aura. And the instant I saw the house, I could see black strikes of vampire energy all along the doors and windows. I tasted old death in the back of my mouth, and I followed the black strikes with my eyes down the block.

"You see it?" I asked, and I felt her nod through my rope. I heard cars start around us and I followed the lime-green streak to a cop car a few feet away.

"Ready to go?" Sean said brightly, lost in a haze of his own energy. I smiled at him.

"Try to keep up. I'm leading." I turned back to Ashiya and her own brown fog and mumbled. "I am leading, right?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'll try to keep up."

I smiled back at her, the turned my attention to the black streak. I could see that the streak went over the next house and around so I took up a light jog and headed down the street. The people were cleared away from the yellow tape and formed a line that was wide enough to let the cop cars past. I jogged thought the yellow line clearing, my eyes on the streak. Ashiya was on my heels the entire time. I vaguely heard one officer who was holding back the crowed say, "They're going to walk after it?"

I stopped in the middle of Main Street and stared down the long black streaks that painted the road. I jumped twice to get my legs started then called back behind me "Ready?"

"As ready as you are." Ashiya answered, and then I stared to run. I took a deep breath through my mouth and ran into the aura trail of the vampires, yanked at the power in my chest, took another deep breath and my Tracking instincts took over.

It's been said that Trackers have blood of hunting animals in their bodies. Somehow the Earth gives you another piece of 'something' that lets you have any Talent. I've worked with a few Trackers on the island, and it seems like we all have a different anima we embody. Ashiya - for instant - hunted like a wolf. I was more like a lion. I hunted better in a group when I could wait and ambush. But whatever animal we were considered, we could all run.

I can't really tell you much of what it's like while tracking, but I can tell you what it feels like before you are absorbed by the hunt. I know all you're energy is pushed into your legs, and I knew that the better the Tracker the more they looked like the animal they were referred to. I've never seen a tracker shift into another form, but I've seen some close.

A guy I knew a few years ago had his entire bone structure almost completely change. His legs would grow and his feet would be manipulated for speed and running. His toes became claw-like, as did his hands. He ran on all fours, and I wasn't able to keep up with him. His teeth were pointed, even when the rest of him looked normal, and his ears would extend back to a point. He had a howl of a dog as well. He was the closest thing to a true and legendary Tracker that I've ever seen.

But all you know when Tracking anything is the way the aura tastes on the back of your tongue, the thickness of the energy in your hands, the way you move through it. You loose yourself in the fields of energy with your only goal is finding the thing that made this and making it yours. Good Trackers are able to stop when they find the prey, but some who are new to Tracking loose themselves in the animal-blood fueling their bodies. That's why people who were new to this went out in groups. In groups, the ability doubles and the hunt is as controlled as the most controlled person in the group.

Never do Trackers just let themselves go and run in the feeling. You only do that when you trust your running mates as much as you trust yourself. I, myself, have never let go and basked in the feeling of running free. Not many have.

A good pair of Trackers can feed off each other's stamina and strength, and their minds can work together without words said. Ashiya and myself were a very good pair. I could tell because my human mind was able to break through the cloud of hunting and I was able to understand what was going on. On this Hunt, I can only remember one moment of human clarity while running. I remember checking to the side and seeing Ashiya, eyes electric brown, smile on her face and teeth pointed. Her neck seamed to stretch more then normal, and her arms were extended, her hands more claw-like then ever. She caught my eyes with her wild ones a second later and let out a long howl.

I faded away in the hunt instantly after that.

_Ozu alleyway, Komagome, Japan._

_Thursday 00: 17_

I brooked back into human conciseness with my Magnum drawn and my back pressed up against the side of a stone house. Cement was steady under my feet, my breath coming in harsh gasps. I ground my teeth together and felt the last imitating points of some kick-ass canines fade away. I was alone next to an alleyway, and I heard a woman protesting weakly around the corner. Ashiya was nowhere in sight, neither was Sean.

Ashiya was on the roof of the building above me, waiting for my signal - I could feel her waiting on the other end of my line. There was a woman with four vampires around the corner from me, and if I didn't do anything, she would die. All the vampires had life-wavers with wet ink still staining the paper. My White Place flooded my mind.

I touched my cross with one of my hands, set my hands on my gun and centered myself. Three slow and even breaths later, I had pivoted on my foot and come into the alleyway, my gun going off with an echoed bang. I snagged one of the smaller vampires with my bullet, and Ashiya got a brown haired one from above at the same time. Two down, two to go.

As I felt my gun auto-reloading, I saw a man stand straight and drop a body - then suddenly he was on top of me, my gun flying out of my hands. A second shot went off as the side of my face slammed into the pavement, the vampire riding my body to the ground. White splotches filled my vision for a second, but faded with the puff of a breath on my cheek. One of the vampire's hands was on my shoulder, the other just touching the side of my face. He was leaning early close to my neck, sure of himself that I was out cold.

I calculated a few things in a matter of milliseconds. One; Ashiya wouldn't fire at the last vamp because he was on top of me, two; the vampire on top of me was left unguarded against it's 'defenseless' pray, and three; I damn well wasn't defenseless.

I yanked the knife on my left forearm out with my right hands and stabbed the vampire on the right side of the chest. It stopped in mid motion - seeming to calculate just what happened- then reared back onto its knees, surprised. I saw it look down at the knife as I reached for my short sword on my calf. The vampire smacked my hand down next to me again with a sickening crack, and then it pulled the knife out in a single fluid motion. Gray dotted his shirt where the knife had been a moment ago, and it was thick on the blade he held in his hand.

I felt more then heard the vampire laugh. "Vat did you tink d'is could dou to me?" His voice was thick with an accent I couldn't put my finger on. I grinned despite the situation.

"It was worth a shot." I mentioned, and I saw his face move to look at me. His hair was a pail blond - a true, blue pale blond. A foreign vampire...now that wasn't something you see running amuck in suburban Japan every day.

"-Ond now you die?" he asked politely, spinning the knife around in his hand and stabbing down, just grazing my arm. Distantly I heard a distinctive high-pitched sound - somewhat like a teakettle put a few octaves higher. It tapered off with a defining ping, and I felt the vampire still on top of me. I met his pale blue eyes through the night and I knew he knew what that sound meant.

"And now you die." I said and covered my face with my arms. A moment later the vampire's body was ripped off of me and tossed away by the force of the blast we both knew was coming. I felt wet, warm raindrops scatter over my torso and arms and knew I was splattered in gray.

"Kyo! You alright?!" Sean's voice echoed down the alleyway and slowly I moved both my arms from my protective position and laid them back down on the ground. I just lay there for a moment staring up at the midnight blue sky, then took a deep breath.

"Fine." My voice was echoed against the walls, and I slowly pushed myself onto my elbows. Sean stood at the other end of the alleyway with his right hand extended - palm forward and fingers spread. Smoke floated from the middle of his palm, and a large black hole looked glued onto the pale skin of the palm of his hand.

I then turned and found the foreign vampire slumped against the wall, head gone. Seconds later I turned back toward Sean, not really in the mood to see that tonight. Ashiya dropped down gracefully in the alleyway then, landing steady on both feet . Her gun was back in its holster, and she looked mildly amused.

"Nice shot." She directed the comment toward Sean, and I grabbed my knife that was embed in the concreted and pulled it out with a grunt. I slid it back into its place and whipped my face with the back of my hand, feeling liquid smudge.

Great, more blood stops on my face. A quick look at my clothes proved that my face wasn't the only thing that would need a wash when we got home. If I didn't get killed before I got home, that is.

I looked up toward Sean again, and suddenly the alleyway was flooded with cops. The peace after a sudden kill went up in smoke as an EMT rushed up to me and insisted that I had a concussion. I said that the dizziness would wear off in a few hours, no I didn't feel like puking that much, and that if I didn't need stitched I would leave then and there.

I left the alleyway two and a half hours later after my LIVE boss showed up - without a stitch in my head and standing on my own two feet.

People often wonder why I haven't crossed from being an Assassin/LIVE to being a cop and doing the country a favor. It's the minimal paper work and flexible hours that keep me away, or that I'm tied to my family. Tonight I found out that all cops in this damn country either have an IQ of 5 or would rather be eating then talking to anyone like me.

Then again, I would rather be eating donuts then talk to myself after tonight as well.

And it was only 3: 30 in the morning. I had another nine and half hours to go until I was off.

The day was **not** looking up...

**(End of Chapter Three)**

Ranting: I wrote this in two days. I cant believe I wrote anything this fast. It's 10: 45 on September 13th. It's been 26 hours since I started. This is now my record.

And the first chapter isn't even out yet..._Sigh's_

Happy New Years and Holidays to everyone!!!

Date Finished: September 13th, 2004. 10: 45 p.m.

Date Edited: January 3rd, 2005. 10:38 p.m.

Anyway...

Cat: Thank you fro your review!!

Mike: Thank's!

2 reviews _Is very sad...._ but as I said, I'm not not posting this. Happy New Year everyone!!!

Ja!

SAL-Chan


	4. The Drink

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed if not ignored. This has been inspired by many people works and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these idea's are mine. The terms used in this story to define members and ranks in a werewolf pack are borrowed from Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and I take no clam or credit on creating these names. There is no harm meant in borrowing these names and I only use them for the porpoise of creating a interesting story.

AN: It's 6: 11 p.m. on September 14th, and I'm starting the fourth chapter weather you like it or not...At the pace I'm going. I'll have the whole story out before winter break! Go me! (Remembers that she has another story she should be writing as well...) Yeah, well...SH will be written in it's own time. It's hard writing in now. There's so much going on behind everything else, and I cant keep track of it all...Well...onward we shall go.

_Italics _language change -English mostly - OR if it's in paragraph form, it's a flashback.

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

**Chapter Four: The Drink**

_The Sohma Company, 643 Shinwa, Mita, Japan._

_Thursday 04: 16_

Yukari was in the parking lot of SCO, perched on the railing that protected the stairs that led to the basement office of SCO itself. His legs blended into the darkness of the building that sat on top of our office, leaving the top part of him almost a glowing white. A light wind had picked up around the time we left the crime seen and it still lingered, playing with Yukari's violet strands. A lit cigarette hung loosely in his mouth, its tip lighting bright orange.

I shut my car off the instant I parked it, shutting Jordan Pundik and company off while on their final chorus. Normally, stopping a song near the end is a big no-no for me, but I -for the first time in my life- wanted to be inside that office more then anything at the moment.

I slid out of the car, my gun secure to my side, with both of my knives in each of my hands. I felt the blood drying on my face and arms, and my shirt stuck to me in places I didn't want it to stick to me. I was covered in gray.

Yukari looked toward me with level eyes, looked away, then did a double take. He blinked, dropped his cigarette and slid off the railing and walking a few steps to meet me. I walked right past him.

"I though you would be finished by ten?" He made it sound like a question as I rushed down the stairs. At the bottom was our auto lock door and without being asked, Yukari slipped his ID into the small electronic identifier and the door clicked open. He then politely held it open for me as I stepped onto the gray carpet with a grunt as a thank you. I had quite a fear that if I opened my mouth the bile that was stinging my throat would fall out of my mouth.

Haru was in the waiting room - lying across three chairs on his stomach, one hand under his arm and the other brushing the floor. His eyes were open a crack when I walked in the door, and I felt them follow me as I stalked through the waiting room and kicked open the swinging door that leads to the back offices.

I heard an annoyed 'Kyo!' slip after me through the swinging door, but I ignored it whole heartily. If I didn't wash all this gray off of me soon, I would freak out externally as well. I slipped both of my dirty knives into their sheathes, slid my shoulder holster off and almost ripped my gray-covered shirt off myself. The cold air of the office's constant temperature-regulated AC made goose bumps fall down my arms. I could see spots on my chest where the blood had soaked through the shirt and started staining my skin. It wasn't as bad as the flecked and splotched clumps of gray on my arms, but it still made my stomach twist.

I slipped into the kitchen and dropped my shirt in the sink, placed my holster along with my knives on the cleaning block next to it. I slipped out of the kitchen just as quickly and made my way down the hallway, slipping into the bathroom at the end of it.

The bathroom was decent sized, with four stalls. Shigure had made it duel-sex safe when he had once hoped that a female might work here, so there were no urinals lining one wall. The floor was black and gray tiled, and the walls were a soft yellow. I braced myself on one of the four sinks that lined the opposite wall of the stalls and stared into my reflection in the mirror.

I looked horrible. My eyes were bright - even to me - and my face was pale. The area around the cut I had on my temple from when I smacked my head on the ground the first time was clean and neat. The EMT had said that either she'd clean it and put a butterfly on it or she would sedate me and stitch both my head and my arm back up. Needless to say, the white sterile strip was still pulling the two sides of the cut on my head together nicely. The cut on my arms was wrapped in thick white gauze and hurt when I flexed my arm, and I had found out it made driving a pain in the ass.

Blood had cascaded down my arms, so all my now-pale skin was tinted gray. The palm of my left hand was gray from when I ripped it, and lines of dried blood ran their own paths down the side of my face. Flecks of gray spotted the bridge of my nose like the freckles on Sean's face, and I thought that besides the cut on my head and a split that I had made it out okay for two vampire encounters in one night.

My hands were sticky against the rim of the sink, and my knees were weak. It was taking everything I had not to throw myself into one of those stalls and empty out the coffee that normally replaced food humans were suppose eat. My nerves were totally shot; I could feel tremors race from my hands to the pit of my stomach. I don't know if they were from getting jumped by the foreign vampire or from the meeting with Kazuma and company. That particular meeting I was trying not to think about.

Shit...I hated vampires.

The door to the bathroom opened with a bang, and Sean stumbled in - face almost ashen white. I watched in the mirror as he threw himself into a stall and proceeded to up-chuck his own coffee. I had to concentrate on my breathing in order to not join him in a stall. I'm known for not barfing up my insides at a murder site or on a hunt, but when it comes to standing there and listening to someone else puke - I'm a bit shaky.

I felt bile bubble at the back of my throat and I closed my eyes, exiting the bathroom as quickly as I could. The hallway was quiet - minus the light conversation that came from the kitchen. I sighed and licked my lips, then grimaced as the vile taste of bile lingering in my mouth mixed with the dried blood on my lips. Confident I wouldn't fall over and puke, I made my way back toward the kitchen. I could wash my arms and face in there - I had a feeling Sean would like to be alone when praying to the porcelain god for his life.

I slipped into the kitchen and all conversation stopped, the weight of everyone's eyes suddenly on me. I blinked back at them, their power surrounding me and spilling into the magic hole in my chest. Yet instead of the awful numbness that had rung through me the first time, warmth grew instead. It raced to my fingertips and settled my stomach instantly.

Haru now sat in between Yukari and Shigure, my gun disassembled in his hands and in the process of being cleaned. He set the final piece down, raised his eyes up to me - taking in the blood-covered sight that I was - and smiled.

"You don't look so good." Shigure said lightly with a smile, my knife expertly held in one of his hands and a cleaning rag in another. We tended to do that for each other - if one stumbled into the bathroom at an ungodly hour like 4: 30 in the morning about to chuck their lunch into the toilet. Because having a clean weapon is quite important to us all, and no one wants to clean their equipment after leaning over a toilet for an hour and a half.

"I look better than the other guy," I said lightly, finding it easer to breathe as their power passed through me. My skin was starting to get itchy where the clotted blood lay in my hair. Yukari's rumbling laugh fell out of his thin frame, and Haru smile. My white-and-black haired cousin gave me a once over again, seeing me but not really seeing me.

"We're going for a drink," he said knowing, then added shortly after "When you're done washing up, of course. You look like you need something heavy."

_N.O.E.L. Tavern, 1224 Hoki, Mita, Japan._

_Thursday 4: 49_

Noel's Tavern sat on the corner of a not-so-busy street, an old three-story building that looked ratty and a few steps away from being ripped down. The building was tiled in a gray flagstone, each piece held onto the sides of the building by nothing short of magic glue - I'm pretty sure it was magic that glued the stones to the building. All the windows were boarded up like all the abandoned buildings near Tokyo harbor. Around the back of the building and three steps up sat a red door with a simple, constantly flickering light over it, and on the door was the name of the tavern - N.O.E.L.

I parked my jeep around the front of the old gray building, the black shingles looking like they were about to slide off the roof and hit the nearest bystander. I parked under a streetlight in the little 12-car parking lot that was nearly empty. A little red Honda sat in the corner, and a small black sports car sat three spots away. I didn't let the low amount of cars parked fool me - no matter what, Noel's was packed.

I sat for a moment in the noiseless car - a truly rare occurrence. The only time I shut my music off was when Shigure was in the car. I had a hypothesis that the noise level I like my music at would make the poor werewolf's ears bleed. This was the only sympathy I spared Shigure. The said shifter sat in the passenger set of the jeep; small wire-framed reading glasses perched on his nose and the file in his hand.

I told both Haru - who was relaxing in the spacious back set of the jeep - and Shigure about my interaction with Kazuma and the Child Vampire Of My Most Dammed Nightmares. Shigure had given me a sideways glance when I mentioned Hiro, his brow furrowing and worry fogging his eyes. I told them the deal I made with Kazuma - never mention his name directly (I found out last year that it's not good to mention vampires when they don't want to be known to others - trust me on this one). Haru had laughed and asked if I was kidding. I didn't answer him.

Shigure closed the folder quietly and slowly took his glasses off, putting them in his breast pocket. Hs chocolate eyes were very quiet and still in their sockets.

"Whatd'ya think?" I said, my voice way to loud in the sudden quiet. His eyes flickered to me and his shoulders slumped. He shook his head, his shaggy black hair swinging around his eyes.

"There is almost nothing here," he said lightly, holding the folder toward me. "There's nothing to go by. No one to suspect, no one to question. There isn't even a declaration of what kind of powers this Honda girl has."

I sighed. "I thought as much."

"How long do you have till you need to find this girl?" Haru spoke up in the back, leaning forward so he was settled in between the seats and able to look back and forth from Shigure and I. I stared at him for a minute.

"I have no idea."

"...Good job, Kyo."

"_Screw you_." I pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened my door, letting the night air spill into the car. It was crisp, with that pre-morning cold that comes with almost every morning in a city near the water. I slid out and locked the door instinctively, slamming it behind me.

"Just trying to help." I heard him say on the other side of the door as a second slam told me Shigure and Haru were out as well. I started around the truck and walked toward the old looking building.

"You're bloody marvelous at that, aren't you?"

He smiled crooked at my side, his stride matching mine. "I try my best."

I heard Shigure chuckle behind us as I stepped past the boundaries of the magic circle that ran around the pub. By the way, did I mention that a high-class coven of witches met at Noel's? Guess not...

I passed through the circle with a slight tickle of my magic hole, already adapting to the feeling of the empty spot in my chest. I was beginning to think that it wasn't really normal that I got the feeling I could put a metaphysical fist through that hole. I should probably tell someone. I rounded the corner of the building and came quickly to the back entrance. At the same moment Haru and I stopped and let Shigure pass through the middle of us and up the three steps to the red door.

See...Noel's - though it's known for the witchcraft and talent user's that often settle into a pint at the bar - is normally full of lycanthropes and shifters. In case you didn't realize, most Trackers track shifters and lycanthropes - thus I'm not very welcome by some of the patrons. Haru - in being one of my partner's and being related to me - isn't much more welcome as I am. Shigure has a 'Get In For Free' card because he is one, though most still don't like him anyway for owning the company we work for.

Other then the shifters, everyone else either likes me or doesn't care. Lucky, lucky me.

Shigure knocked three times on the door, waited a second, the knocked again. I heard the flicker of a switch, then the unbolting of locks and the door swung open without the creepy squeak you would expect.

In the doorway stood Kira, dressed in Noel's standard uniform. A grin was on his perfect face, his eyes alight. He quickly stuck his hand out, and Shigure shook it with a matching grin of his own. Kira then pulled Shigure into a hug and both men rubbed their cheeks together, paused for a second, the pulled back. Neither I, nor Haru, found this strange. Odd what you learn when around a werewolf.

"Shigure, you _dog_, long time no see." Kira's voice was smooth, and Shigure laughed. Kira's midnight blue eyes swung down the steps towards us, and his smile grew. "Hatsu, Kyon. Good to see you again too."

Kira - in all his 19 year-old glory - was one of the strongest pack members in the local lukoi that I knew. He was Freki - and I know some definitions will be needed. Lukoi is the very technical term for a werewolf pack, and why that is a very long story. Freki is known as a second in command to the pack's Ulfric - or wolf king. He wasn't Freki without a reason, I can say that truthfully. Even standing feet away from him, life power blew off of his body like great warm gusts of wind. I felt the hole in my chest hum with the power, and I could almost see the air shimmering around him because of his aura.

That just made you think. If Kira could only be Freki, then how strong was the Ulfric of their pack? I - for one- was not waiting with baited breath for the day I met the Ulfric.

I grinned back. "Good to see you too, Kira. Can we come in?"

The waiter/werewolf grinned wider and swung the door all the way open, stepping to stand beside Shigure. I hopped up the steps quickly, and noticed that Kira was eye level with my neck. His dusty black hair sat inches under me, his midnight blue eyes looking older then I was by years. I wondered to myself in between scattered thoughts if this Tohru Honda had eyes like that. If she was as warn inside as Kira looked.

I silently prayed she wasn't and stepped into Noel's, my thoughts quiet.

After exacting a long narrow hallway I entered a large room that at one time was space for a living room, the kitchen, and two spare bedrooms. Everything had been renovated - of course - so now the entire floor was more open then before. The bottom floor of the house was changed into an old tavern, like the kind they had in England in the 18th century (or something). The floors were a hard maple wood, with the knots authentically grown in the really once-alive wood. The bar's island was up against the far left wall; racks and racks of liquor from around the world lined up on the glass shelves. The bar reached across the entire wall, panels cut out of the underside of the bar and boxed in with golden leafed squares - or real blocks of gold. There was a door in the far corner after the shelves of drinks started that led to the back wine room and upstairs. I have never been upstairs, or ever behind the cloth door they use to block the stairs from view.

Comfortable looking bar stools lined the bar, their backs high and the seat cushions a deep red. The gray of the bar stool cushions matched Kira's button down dress shirt, and I noticed that the deep gray the legs of the chair were painted were almost the color of Kira's dress pants. The server matched the chairs - how utterly corny, but somehow predictable. Hum...

Tall tables were scattered along the walls of the bar, square and long enough to fit six people - with room left over. Circular tables were scattered in the center of the room, four chairs to every circle, and four chairs to every rectangle. Every table was spaced evenly apart - giving the people sitting there a little breathing room and slight privacy. In the corner that the door was on sat a old grand piano and a piano bench, and I had never once - in all the years that I had been allowed to come to Noel's - heard someone play that piano. It was a little sad, really.

Every piece of furniture - minus the bar stools - was made of wood and gold and red fabric. All the hinges were made from enchanted gold and every nut, bold, and screw were, too. The chairs were made of wood and the seats padded with a red cushion. There wasn't a drop of silver in the entire room - I would bet my knife on it - except for the silver you brought in with you and, judging from the energy that flowed from the patrons in the room, I knew most of them didn't have silver on.

Why, you ask? Well here's a very simple reason:

A (lycanthropes) + B (silver) C (unhappiness).

Simple math, really.

And the place was packed with them; shifters, I mean. The room was warm from their life energies touching. That warmth sat in my chest, and I was content. This place felt safe, and suddenly the need to touch my newly cleaned gun drifted away, despite that every pair of eyes was on me and mine the moment we walked into the bar. And I don't think it was because the three of us are so good looking...

Haru still had his holster looped on to his belt, his Browning safely locked into place and all four of his knives on - adding two knives to each forearm, along with the two on his calf's. That was the only thing he added to his outfit from earlier today, much like Shigure - who only added a soft brown leather shoulder holster and a 9 millimeter Glock strapped securely under his right arm for a cross draw. Strangely - or normally enough -Shigure was a lefty.

I - on the other hand - was now wearing one of my favorite and lucky green t-shirts that actually managed to not clash with my hair. My black shoulder holster held my Mag and the knives looked dark on my skin. My loose tan cargos held an assortment of knives in my many pockets. I probably smelled like silver. My lightly black leather jacked did nothing to hide the shoulder holster when it was open - like it was now - and it certainly didn't hide my cross. Me, jumpy about vampires? No...

I took a seat across from Shigure, who had wandered over to one of the taller tables. There were lamps lit all over the bar –real, authentic, whale oil burning lamps (They didn't really burn whale oil. I had asked once, and had been laughed at.). They gave the room the lighting effect of an old English tavern - or so Sean says. It was very nice.

"So, what can I get you gentlemen?" Kira put both hands on the table and smiled as Haru got into the seat next to me. "The usual?"

Shigure nodded, but I said, "Give me a Mai Tai."

"Bloody Mary." Haru said. Kira's smile grew and he slipped off toward the bar. Haru turned to me then. "Starting strong tonight, ne? You know Kaori give doubles shots to Mai Tai's."

There were three normal bartenders that always worked at Noel's. Seo - who made the best martinis in the world - was a shifter that worked Mondays and Fridays. Kagurazaka was a redheaded fox - in the real sense of the term - with pointed orange ears and a tail when he's not casting an illusion. The fox made one mad Mudslide, and his Bloody Marys were to die for. But Kaori was the man who made the best Mai Tai's in the world.

I guess that Kagurazaka and Kaori were both on tonight, for Haru never orders a Bloody Mary from anyone else. I guess he needed a good drink more then I though he did.

"How did your hunt go?" Shigure said to Haru as he sighed and leaned into the seat.

"Fine enough. You'll get the money." It was a phrase we all used when we didn't want to talk about what happened. It most likely meant that blood was involved in more then a comfortable way. I sighed.

"How bad was it?" I asked, taking my light jacket off and wrapping it around the back of the chair. I could care less if everyone else knew I had a damn gun. Everyone considered Noel's - and when I say everyone I mean it - neutral ground. There were no fights at Noel's, no demonstrations of power. The reason why there were no fights here was very unclear, but it was known by everyone and for some reason no one disobeyed that rule. The minute you stepped out of Noel's parking lot – tough. Then the fights raged with blood and gore like any other place. I wasn't so sure I would care if I got in a fight tonight - I was numb and tired, if not slightly annoyed. I would probably just kill the poor bastard. I was shocked and freaked to my extent tonight, thank you very much...

Haru shrugged and grabbed a toothpick out of a small holder on the table and put it in his mouth. "Ritual-sacrifice type. I saw a heart lying on a table, people elbow deep in someone else's chest, all that jazz. "

I nodded and Shigure turned a bit green, if anything. He wasn't too knowledgeable on what happened in the field, thus he was squeamish. Can you believe that? A werewolf squeamish about a little sacrificed blood...

In case you hadn't guessed - yes, i am insane. So is the rest of my family...

I chanced to look up at Haru and found his eyes dark, and he was biting his lip. Worry was written of his face clearly, and that wasn't something you normally saw in Haru. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What?" I asked, and I brought Shigure's attention to Haru's face. The Were also cocked an eyebrow at him, leaning forward. Haru shook his head.

"It was...disturbing, that's all." It was calm and final. I had my mouth halfway open to probe about it some more when the following things happened in a sequence that my brain couldn't seem to keep up with.

1 - A hand found its way though my gritty hair and anchored itself firmly in a fist.

2- Another hand touched my right cheek and - with the hand that was laced in my hair - turned my head to the left, my mouth still slightly open now in surprise, and pulled forward.

3- The force of the hands turning my head dragged me off the stool with such an uncharacteristic ungraceful-ness that I was falling forward on my feet before I knew it.

4- I took an almost automatic step forward, my hands reaching out to catch myself on something - anything. The first thing my hands touched, they latched onto it.

5- My hands latched onto something - more accurately someone, just as a vanilla flooded my nose and a pair of lips met mine.

If I said that I had been shell-shocked and numb before, cancel that. Now I was shell-shocked and numb. There was no sound, no movement, and no sight. My brain had stopped altogether, along with my heart. Even with my eyes wide open I couldn't tell who was kissing me for a few moments. Then gray-brown eyes flooded mine - amusement and pride making the vibrant color glow - and I felt my heart pick up.

I pushed my hands away as I pulled my head back, laughter and catcalls echoing within the wooden walls. Shigure and Haru's laughter chimed right along with her high-pitched laughter, creating a light cord. I pushed her away with all I had, and she stumbled back and falling gracefully onto her butt, laughing the entire time.

Her hair was cropped to her shoulders and pulled back by two braids. Her hair was just the right color brown - almost a chestnut - that let her graying eyes stand out on her pale face. Her thin frame was covered with the normal Noel's waitress uniform, the burgundy dress shirt with its first 3 button's undone and a pair of black slacks. Her apron was black and tied around twice, and - like normal - her feet splayed out in front of her. I felt a flush creep up my cheeks - momentarily surprised that I had any blood left in my body at all to blush.

"_Shit!_ God damnit Kagura!" I almost screamed it at her, my fists shaking. " Why tha hell did you hafta go and do that? What tha hell's wrong with you?"

She waved a thin hand at me, her cheeks flushed from laughing. The men around us were laughing as well, small smiles on their faces. "Ne, Kyon, don't take it so hard."

"Don't take it so hard!" I fumed. "How did'ya expect me to take it when every time-"

"-exactly! You should be us to this alread-"

"-a normally thing to do! I'm not your boyfriend or any-"

She threw her hand up over her head and I felt all the willpower I had to speak disappear into thin air. I felt my mouth snap shut on its own accord, and it left me staring down at her with a contempt on my face. I stared down at her form and I would have growled if I had the ability.

In her hand sat a small black orb and I knew from experience that it was my voice. She had taken my voice out of me - and she wondered why I once called her Ursula. No one got the joke.

"Na, Kyon..." She smiled up at me, pushing herself off the floor with one hand and dusting her pants off. "I'll give it back, don't worry. You just have to calm down first..."

Her smile was mischievous and it matched the unearthly glint in her eye. Kagura was the only witch I knew that was able to steal a person's voice. Then again, I remember once a long time ago she cast a spell on me when we were growing up - when I was like...12. I've gone to a lot of people that have tried to take the spell off me, but everyone I've gone to has said that the spell has grown into me as I've grown up. So I was stuck with someone who could tell you exactly were I was, if I was hurt, what state me mine is in, and any major thought I was having at the time.

How did you think Shigure and Sean found me and saved my sorry ass before? Kagura tapped into me just as the first cut on my hand was made. The vampire cut us off instantly after, but Kagura was able to tell them where we were. I guess she's handy for some things.

"Can you teach me to do that?" Shigure said, now standing next to me. I turned my head to him and gave him a sharp look, unable to do anything else. The Were smiled at me and clapped me on the back, laughing. "It's a good trick."

I had a few things to counter that - for proof, Kagura burst out laughing - but the smug look stayed on his face. So I made it easy for myself and flipped him off. Oh yeah, there's another language I know. Sign language. Haha...I'm so funny.

"Did you order something?" she asked, ignoring Shigure all together. The werewolf's face fell instantly, and it made me grin. No one could brush another person off like Kagura. I nodded, still unable to talk, and put my hands in my pockets - at a totally loss as of what to do before I got my damn voice back.

"Yes," Haru said with my nod, and her attention was dragged from me to him. She raised a thin eyebrow at him and shrugged, taking a few steps and sitting in the seat next to Shigure. The Were sat down the moment he was dismissed and was playing with the napkin on the table. I suddenly felt very awkward, standing while the rest of my party was sitting, and I still felt the eyes of the others in the bar on me as well. So I sat with all the dignity I had left tonight - and to tell you the truth, after that it wasn't much.

Once I was seated, Kagura turned to me again, her eyes alight with wanting. She was smiling, and she leaned forward when she asked "So, tell me what happened?"

I blinked at the suddenness and I felt a cough roll up my throat. I let it out in a fit that made my eyes tear, then cleared my throat afterwards and found that I made noise. I gave Kagura a hard look and rubbed my throat, then raised my eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean what happened?" I sounded raspy. I cleared my throat again.

"At the meeting, stupid! Goddess..." She looked like I should understand what she was saying. I didn't have a clue. I let it show. I wanted to know what happened at this meeting too...

"What meeting?"

"With Gabriel of Japan's Kiss, duh!" She 'ticked' at me, and I gaped at her.

"When did I do this?" My voice was very soft. Fear stabbed me in the stomach like a knife, and it sent a thrill of horror up my spine. My fingers were suddenly cold, and I didn't seem able to get the blood in me to move. If felt like everything stopped with an icy cold feeling all over. I saw Shigure's eyes widen at me out of the corner of my eyes. Kagura, for her part, looked very confused herself.

"What do you mean, when? You met with him today, right? Everyone in the coven is talking about it...you did meet with Gabriel, right?" She sounded as nervous as she looked, like her information was wrong or something. I wished so much for it to be wrong, but that dread-life feeling that something had indeed slipped through my fingers like it had when I agreed with Yosuki-...Atsuo this morning. I knew I had missed something in the office, and I had been right. I knew I was missing something at the graveyard too. That must have been what I was missing.

"Who's Gabriel?" Haru asked, and I watched Kagura's head swivel from me to face him. I didn't move that quickly, but slowly and almost painfully turned to look at him. My cousin was staring back at us like he knew it was a stupid question but didn't know nevertheless.

"Gabriel, " Kira's voice was accompanied by the sound of my drink being delivered. And what a nice sound it was... " is the Archangel who is God's heavenly messenger and Lord of fire and thunder. But in the term that Kagura's talking about, it's the Kiss's second."

"Exactly." Kagura said, and as she started I picked my drink up and downed the entire thing in a few gulps. The sweet coldness that slid down my throat was followed by the rawness of the alcohol. It felt very real, and very me, and it made me stop thinking about the fact that I might have met one of the strongest vampires in Japan tonight and I came out alive. After I said no to him...

"I told him no," I said, and my voice was scratchy to my own ears. I sounded distant - separated from the rest of myself. Mild shock. Kagura's eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

"What!"

I looked up to her, and I know my eyes were darker from the look that flashed through her eyes. " I said no to him - to his deal."

"Wait, that's who you talked to?" Shigure broke in, sounding astounded. I couldn't see his eyebrows either. "The vampire in the graveyard was Gabriel?"

"Wait, I'm lost," Kagura broke in.

"So am I." Haru and Kira echoed each other, then turned and gave each other a look. I sighed, and the numbness in my fingertips almost disappeared. I looked at the empty cup, then turned to Kira and put the cup in front of him.

"Hit me again, then take a set."

Kira took the glass without question, and first I turned to Haru. "What don't you get?"

"Why haven't I heard of this 'Gabriel' before?" He sipped at his Bloody Marry, and I only glanced at it. You would never know how distracting it is to watch people drink gray liquid. Creepy ass tomato juice. Why did they feel the need to make drinks red?

"I never let you go after anything that big," I said truthfully. He gave me a look over the rim of his cup, a look that was on the edge of an unspoken death threat. I grinned back. "Just being careful."

"You've never had to kill something so strong, so you don't know about it. Why wouldn't basic training cover who Gabriel is?" Shigure said more to himself then to Haru, and gave his drink a puzzled look.

"LVE's aren't meant to go after the big bad vamps." Kagura offered, crossing her arms. "You not meant to deal with Gabriel or Michael."

"Or Lucifer." I said.

"Japan's Kiss doesn't have a Lucifer."

"All Kisses have a Lucifer. Us regular monsters just don't know who it is." Kira set my glass down with a frown on his face from his own comment. The table was quiet suddenly, and uneasy type of topic and a very uneasy answer - no one denied the monster comment. No one agreed either. I was getting to into the mindset that everyone's life was a nightmare as worthy as mine seemed to be. Or that everyone did things that could turn into nightmares behind their backs. Within the group that sat at the table with me, I was correct.

"I..." Haru tested the waters again, ripping our minds away from dissecting the fact that no one objected. "...still don't know what any of theses names mean."

"Gabriel-" Kira started for me, and I took another sip of the acid like drink. This one was stronger then the last. "-is to a Kiss as Geri is to pack. They're both thirds to the head of the group."

Haru nodded. We all (minus Kagura) knew the structure of a Pack like the back of our hands. I gave Kira a brownie point for comparing the two positions to one another. I -truthfully -had never thought of the similarities within both.

"Michael is God's right hand, so naturally in a Kiss, Michel is second to their 'god'. Michael is equal to what Kira is in his pack, right?" I continued, rather slowly and rose and eyebrow at Kira. He nodded, and I sipped the battery acid colored drink again. My toes weren't as cold as before. I reminded myself to thank Kaori before I left.

"Every Michael is allowed -if old and strong enough - to start their own Kiss under their God." I continued, letting go of my glass and leaning back. "Thus he becomes a God of his own Kiss. But the true 'God' still controls all of the Kisses, and the first Michael controls all the of the Kisses under him, and the that Michael's Michael controls everything under him, so on and so forth. There are two Michael with their own Kisses in this city...that I know of anyway."

"I know that there is a Kiss made by Lucifer in Tokyo." Shigure put in, then flushed when he found everyone's eyes on him. Half of his Mai Tai was gone and the other half sparkled in the glass in his hand. The effects of alcohol didn't last long in werewolves. Did I mention that Mai Tai glasses were almost as big as a ceiling fan globe? It's a big ass glass.

"There isn't a Lucifer in Tokyo Shigure. That's a myth." Kagura started, but Shigure shook his head at her.

"Alright, believe whatever. But Lucifer is able to create his own Kiss as well. Lucifer is...like Freki or Geri and Fenrir in one. He's as strong or stronger then Michel and Gabriel like Freki and Geri, but he's challenged the authority of 'God' - or in the were case, the Ulfric." The Were said and ended his sentence with a sip of his drink. For a moment I felt very lost myself. I can't imagine what Kagura felt knowing next to nothing about this.

"Definitions and explanations," Haru said quickly toward Shigure. The oldest at the table sighed.

"That's right, we haven't had a Fenrir yet. They're the challenger to the Ulfric's position. Either the Ulfric wins and nothing happens to Fenrir, or Fenrir wins and the Ulfric dies. It works almost the same way in the Kiss. If 'God' is destroyed by Lucifer, the wicked become God...fairly simple, actually."

Haru glared at him. "Shut up. Now pretend I'm three and tell me again."

Shigure smiled. "That should be easy."

"Shut up and tell him." I said stiffly.

"Ulfric is a wolf King - he's the leader of a pack or werewolf's. Freki is second in command in the pack to the Ulfric. Geri is third in command." Kagura noted to herself, counting on her fingers. Out of all of us, she knew the least about werewolf order, let alone werewolf's in general. Kira nodded.

"And Fenrir is the challenger to the Ulfric. He was - before he became Fenrir - either Geri or Freki, or someone else who's strong in the pack." Shigure said toward Kagura, attracting the witch's eyes to him.

"So..." She pouted her lips and stared at her counted fingers and started again. "...so an Ulfric and God -the leader of a Kiss- are the same."

"Technically," Kira said and I took another sip of my drink. Now that panicky feeling didn't flood my body when I though about what we were talking about. Kagura nodded at him.

"Then Michael is like Freki, Gabriel is like Geri, and Lucifer is like Fenrir...roughly." She looked surprised that it finally clicked in her head and I saw from the corner of my eye that it clicked for Haru too.

I spoke up again, suddenly very tired. "What was the next question?"

Kagura blinked to me then remembered with a slight jolt. I guess she hadn't know how important a Kiss's Gabriel was before...

"Did you meet with Japan's Gabriel tonight?" she said again, and this time I could think and not be bothered by the shock of the question.

I tired to remember the last time a vampire had felt like that to me. I could vividly remember the feel of his power rubbing again my skin, and the feel of his voice along my spine. He was a master vampire all right - that I'm sure of. He was masking more then half of his power, but even so...could he be powerful enough to be Gabriel? I'm not so sure.

I answered truthfully. " I don't know."

She threw he hands up in a fit and glared at me. "How do you not know!"

"Vampire X felt strong, but I could tell he was masking most of whatever he has - more then half." I sat back and furrowed my eyebrows. Vampire X was a name we used when we didn't know the name of the vampire in question. There is a taboo about saying a vampire's name in a conversation when you do not wish to invoke the vampire's power. I'm not so sure about that, but I know that vampires don't like being known to more people than absolutely necessary. Almost no one knew the names of the ranking vampires in the country. The only truly open and known vampires live somewhere in England, or France - somewhere in Europe.

"Did he feel as strong as Kazuhiko?" Shigure asked and I felt my heart skip a beat. My suddenly wild eyes trained on him, and the Were stared back with calm and cold eyes. Sometimes I'm surprised at the amount of emotion he can hide behind in his eyes. I felt my eyes shift and split and my limited power bubble in my chest despite the warding of the building. No outside magic in a safe-zone, remember that. I felt myself snarl at him, but Shigure reached out and grabbed my bad hand and pulled me toward him. Suddenly, I was nose to nose with my older cousin, who looked just as pissed as I was.

"Before you even say anything-" he said lowly, his hand so very warm against my suddenly cold and clammy skin. " - or try to bite my head off, I'm just asking to see if we're dealing with the real thing." A quick note - Kazuhiko was the strongest vampire that we ever had to destroy. "If Vampire X is stronger then him, we have found Japan's Gabriel. Now think..."

His sentenced was clipped a bit, and even when he finished, he didn't let go of my hand. He held it tight, grounding me. Shigure knew me well enough to know that if I got caught up in my fury or my pain that even I could damage something metaphysically. The warm current of his hand kept me ground and rational.

Even saying _his_ name brought goose bumps to my flesh. I could suddenly smell the dust and sweat and old wine and old blood like it was in the room around me. I could feel the night crying out in pain with every cut on my skin, I could feel the bite of the blade on my body, I could feel his laugher and his joy as I felt it with him. The momentary flashback broke a sweat across my back and over my arms. I felt like my skin was numb, but I was feverish at the same time.

Shigure squeezed my hand hard and I focused my eyes back on him. His brown eyes were troubled and pain filled, as well as apologetic. I took a breath through the cold-heat and shook my head at him, and thought.

"Most of his power felt like a giant weight against my neck," I said, and my voice didn't waiver. Kudos for me.

"Was he stronger than Kazuhiko?" Shigure's voice didn't waiver, and slowly I found sound coming back to my ears. I could feel my fingertips again, and rational thought cam back into full swing. Damn, magical flashbacks are a bitch.

"Yes." Kazuma felt stronger then Kazuhiko. If I had actually stopped and though about it before I would have realized it. Sean's predicament had come too fast after the revel, and I was all for sweeping myself away in that and not think about what happened.

"Who's Kazuhiko?" Kira asked in all innocence. The name made goose bumps fly across my skin again. Hello reality, stop reminding me.

"The vampire who cut up Kyon's hand a while ago," Kagura answered for me, a worried look in her eye. She said it quickly - as if saying faster would make it not hurt as much. Immediately, she continued. "But if Vampire X is stronger then Kazuhiko...what would he want with Kyon?"

"Damn good question." Shigure released my hand and I was relived that the cold didn't creep up my back again. I felt everyone's eyes suddenly on me, and I met them in turn.

The truth was, I had no idea why they would go to such lengths to meet me like that. I'm not dangerous to most master vampires. I'm a Tracker. Mostly, I hunt lycanthropes - I normally have nothing to do with vampires - until a vampire or two need to die. I don't cover vamps any other time. That is not my department. Sean normally takes care of that, and Haru works with the Supernatural Board of Japan, not me. I track and kill and hunt. That's it. I don't work with vampires. Well...at least not before tonight...

"I don't know..." I sounded very lost, even to myself.

"I don't think you will know..." Haru said, placing his empty glass back on the table. His dark eyes were calm but troubled. "...until you find this Honda girl."

Kagura - who looked passive a second ago - suddenly slammed her fists on the table and glared at me. "'Honda'! Who's this girl you're chasing after, Kyo? What has happened with us? Why are you cheating on me?"

"Kagura!" I almost wailed her name, and my table - my friends- erupted into laughter, along with half the patrons at the bar that night. It was slowly approaching 5 in the morning -almost another hour and a half till the sun rose. I suddenly had the feeling that I could go home in peace.

Sometime I wonder why I need to open my big, fat metaphysical mouth and say things like 'I could go home in peace!'. It normally never happens when you say that...

**(End of Chapter Four)**

Ranting: Well this took me a very long time to write. School's started up again, and this time I'm actually trying to do my homework! Yay for me! I finished my outline for TC all together, and I like it. I like it a lot...

No one get discouraged that their favorite character hasn't appeared yet! You'll get to see everyone eventually -. I have a few stories that I can write after TC is finished. I want to make this into a series. I have so many idea's...

My Beta (Misaki-San!) Just goy chapter 2, and I'm starting on chapter 5 (well truthfully, I could be working on Strange Happenings chapter 15..._Hits her hand_ Bad SAL-Chan! Bad!)

Date Finished: November 7th, 2004. 10:31 p.m. (Wow this chapter took a wile! But I finished the outline!)

Date Eddited: April 20th, 2005. 5:13pm (...wow...that's a long time.)

anyway...

YumiTakato: Thank you 3 glad it rox your sox. I haven't seen tom many complete AU's where the characters stay intact, but I'll try to keep them as real to Furuba as possable.bows Thanks, btw. come review again!

KawaiiBabe: well well,y ou'll just have to weight and see. I have a lot of cards up my sleeves. but yes, i can say there will be quite a bit of Kyoru in here...lol there's more to come. This is only the first part of the story...

HanaTenshiHimeko: lol 3 Remember that vampire, btw...

Cat: --U ...i am so sorry that this took so long...Glad this hypes you up. I get hyped up when I start writing it. I swage I'll start pumping out chapters faster...hey, you may even get two next time round... 3

Kute Anime Kitty: Really? anything like it?...at all? Well, thanx! hehe! come review again!

...so, i think you all deserve an explanation. I've been swamped by school. I had a regents, and I have 3 more coming up in about 2 months. I'm not in charge of the Technical part of our theater group at school, so I need to be there for every practice, the talent show, the multicultural show, everything that has to do with the auditorium. And I know it's not a good excuse, but I have a major writers block. My hands keep writing crap and I'm like "I'm not putting this shit up. I can do so much better!"..and I re-write it. Oh, P.S.! I have a new Email, if anyone wants to chat. it's Drop me a note any time. but...still review...please!

And because you all weighted so long, I'll give up and give you...

A Bonus! Preview of the next chapter! as always, it's un-beta-ed... anyway, from chapter 4..:

I was about to laugh when someone grabbed onto the back of my holster and puller. A moment later I was face to face with my eldest cousin's level brown eyes. I almost laughed in his face, but I bit my cheek and held it. Kudos for me.

"You're late again." He said, sounding board. I shrugs him off and adjusted my holster to fit under my arms again. I grinned at his bored tone.

"I'm sorry, I try not to live here twenty-four seven."

"You're so luck your family. I would of fired you're ass so long ago-"

"That's why Sean is in 10 minuets early every day."

"_Hey_!"

Shigure smacked me on top of the head and grinned, his brown eyes coming to life again. I grinned back. Sean glared.

"You have a client in your office." The Were said, the sudden glint fading. I blinked.

"I just got in."

Shigure shrugged and turned away from me. "He was asking for you specifically. Sorry Kyon."

"Sorry...Sorry?" I parroted, wondering what brought that on. Shaking my head, I took a step toward him, mentioning the biggest weight on my mind. "Wait, did Haru call in sick?"

"No." Shigure didn't even stop to say it. He shut his door with a echoing slam and I knew something was very, _very_ wrong. I had a sinking feeling that whoever it was in my office was the cause of the disturbance. Great, just freaken' great...

I handed the CD case back to Sean with a serious look on my face. The American took it without question, patting me once on the back before he stepped back into his office. I sighed. I did think this day would be better...

I hesitated outside my office and just touched the door knob. Cold rushed up my arm and the spongy-brain feeling came back. I sudden in a breath without realizing it, cold death-power vibrating up my arm.

Another one! Damnit! I can't get away from damn vampires today!

The knob turned under my hand, and the door opened with a slightly vacuum effect that pulled my hair forward to sit on top of my eyes. I almost took a step back in surprise, but I stood my ground. I stared at my next employer and marked the tally down in my head: That's three blond vamps.

His hair was canary yellow - a bright blond that hadn't seen the sun in...well, a few hundred years I would guess. His skin wasn't a sticky pale as some of the other vamps I saw today - he was by far the darkest. He was also the most casually dressed next to Alastra, but so far he didn't luanch himself at me with nails raised. It was still early though.

A cotton candy pink long sleeved shirt covered his thin torso and made him look to young. A pair of black jeans covered his legs - I was debating weather or not to ask him if he had to poor his legs into those jeans they looked so tight. Small dress shoes held his feet, and I noticed they were taping before I pulled my eyes up to meat his.

I couldn't stop myself. I looked up to his thin face and stared at his honey eyes. I think that messed both of us up. He took a step back, but didn't break eye contact. I didn't move.

"How...how can ya do that?" It was child like. The vampire didn't look much older then Hiro. But I could tell the difference between the two instantly. This vamp was smiling as he said it, and that smile actually lit his eyes. Either he was way young, or he didn't care if he showed emotion.

I blinked back at him. "I...don't know." Yeah, great Kyo. I'm so skilled with words. The vampire swung the door to my office open all the way and took a step back and out of the doorway. I stepped in - finding it a bit odd to have someone open the door for me - still staring at his eyes. He stared back and swung the door closed, then put his hands on his hips. His face show pride and excitement - for me. Way odd...

"Who...who the hell are you?" I finally managed to ask, not breaking eye contact. We stayed still for another moment, then the vampire blinked and bowed.

"My name is Momiji." There was a smile in his voice and on his face as he stood up straight again. "And you're exactly what my master expected you to be."

Hehe...Ja!

SAL-Chan


	5. The Attack

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed if not ignored. This has been inspired by many people works and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these idea's are mine. There is no harm meant in borrowing these names and I only use them for the porpoise of creating a interesting story.

AN: Alright, it's been a while. I fell out of writing for a while, but i managed to wrap myself back into it for another chapter. It felt good, actualley...love to my beta. love...And thank anyone who's still reading this...

_Italics _language change -English mostly - OR if it's in paragraph form, it's a flashback. You'll understand when it comes...

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

**Chapter Five: The Attack**

I stepped into the darkness of the coming morning and took a breath of the smoke-free air. No offence to Noel's, but it always smelled like burning cigars and incense — really, really bad vanilla-lavender incense that made the inside of my nose itch. The air outside was light and cold, but not too cold. It was slowly becoming spring. It's weird to think to think that it's snowing on the other side of the world.

I had finished two Mai Tais all together, and my stomach was full of warmth that was seeping into the rest of my body. It was nearly 5: 30 in the morning, and Shigure finally said that my shift was over and that he'd see me in 6 hours. I could actually go home to my little apartment and sleep in my bed. It was a blessing from the gods. I was going home. I was waiting for the full-blown chorus of angels to fly out of the clouds and sing all the verse of 'Glory Hallelujah'.

Next to me, Haru sighed and stared down the steps of Noel's red doorway. The two of us lived in the same apartment complex; he's six doors down from me. Sometimes it's annoying living so close, but other times it's nice. I'll give you an example: I drive him to work almost everyday because Hatsuharu doesn't own a car - And one time Haru rushed in with his semi-auto while I was being attacked by a vampire. Family has its quirks.

"You okay to drive home?" he mumbled back towards me, and I debated saying no. I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for a million years.

"I'm good. You can crash in the back if you want."

I heard him sigh heavily and I watched his shoulders fall forward. "God, please."

_Apartment block 7-2, 1289 Shukumie and Hakai, Mita, Japan._

_Thursday 5: 37_

Our modest little apartment complex was one out of seven in Mita, and all of them looked the same. They were all a cream-colored stucco exterior, and their interiors were all designed the same. They weren't ugly, but they weren't pretty either.

I pulled into my parking spot and shut my car off. I checked in the back, and the sight made me smile. Haru was sprawled across the back seat, sound asleep. A blanket was wrapped around him, a pillow propped his head up on the tire rim, and he looked as comfortable as you can get in the back seat of a jeep. It wasn't rare that one of my family members or my friends fell asleep in the back of my jeep while I was driving them to and fro. It's normal enough that I kept an extra blanket and pillow in the back – along with bandages, syringes full of morphine, needles, and thread. Anything for emergencies.

I slipped out as quietly as could, locking the door behind me. It's better if you leave your sleeping comrade in the back than attempt to wake them. Things tend to get messy when the person you're waking is paranoid, trigger happy, or both. Haru happened to be both. Anyway, it would get cold in the jeep soon enough, and that would wake my white-topped cousin faster (and easier) then anything I could do.

As you can tell, this is quite a routine. I would probably find him sleeping on my couch in the morning.

The parking lot was still coated in darkness, but I could feel the morning coming. Tension let go of my shoulders and I let out a quick breath. In case you didn't know, vampires don't like the light. The only thing I really had to worry about attacking in the day was a rogue shifter, and that was rare in itself. The air around me was still cold, and I pulled my jacket as tightly around me as I could. My gun pressed into my side, reassuringly so.

I was halfway across the parking lot when I noticed something. I turned slowly back towards my jeep, unease tingling at the base of my spine. The light posts in my wake were blackened out, completely dark. The ones in front of me were still lit. Odd wasn't the word for it...

A wind flew past my body, cold and hollow. I didn't even have time to pull my gun as something smashed into me.

Whatever it was rode me to the ground and smacked my head into the pavement so hard the shock coiled down my entire spine and gray spots fluttered behind my eyelids. I felt the previous wounds of the night open on the back of my head and my temple, and the echoing pain from before when that blond vampire had smacked me into the pavement seemed to blow up behind my eyes. I threw my arm at whatever was on top of me, connecting to flesh.

The person - it felt fairly human - was struggling to tear at my chest or my face or my neck. It was hissing away and screaming in a high octave that went straight through my head. I didn't need my eyes to tell that it was a vampire.

But my eyes did tell me things I wouldn't have known if I didn't have sight. The vampire in question was so pale she was almost see-through, her eyes a wide incandescent blue. Her hair, long and a striking blond color, hung knotted and greasy around her crazed face. Her eyes were wide and the look in them wasn't all there. Her fists were covered in blood, and gray fell from her mouth. Had she bitten me?

I managed to put my arm up in time to catch her across the throat, and -- in essence -- saving my ass. She struggled like mad, trying to bite at my neck. I didn't feel myself bleeding, so I didn't panic yet. My White Place came instantly.

I managed to grab the vamp's hair tightly, yanking to the side of me as hard as I could. She just screeched and latched her fingers onto my bad wrist. It took me a second to realize the hand I had grabbed her with was the left one, and currently she was digging her nails into the scars she managed to find there. I didn't have time for it to hurt.

I pulled at my Tracking power and let myself taste her scent. I yanked at her hair again and managed to fling her struggling body off me. She let out a high-pitch scream as her head slammed into the pavement and she struggled to get up again. Doing that gave me just enough time to get to my feet. As soon as I was steady, I was reaching for my weapon and another cold wind rushed my back. I turned in time to catch sight of whatever it was, but it slammed into my side before I pivoted all the way.

I was on the ground again, rolling this time. I managed to smack into a lamppost and still myself enough to get my bearings. Not a very painless way to do so, but very effective. There were two of them. Two more vampires tonight. That's eight total. Holy crap, I just couldn't get away.

They were being too sloppy. They both were trying to just get to me as quickly as they could. True, it was too close to dawn for them to be out without direct orders from their master. They were coming for a simple and quick kill. Great...

I looked up in time to see Vampire Two rush me. I didn't have time to do anything else but shut my eyes - damn these human tendencies that linger still. I waited a moment, expecting to feel nails rip at my face, but instead...

I opened one eyes slowly, then blinked at the sight. Vamp Two's nails were inches away from my face, twitching. I looked up the arm and found the brown-haired vamp's bright blue eyes wide. He was floating in mid-air in a flying position. His skin was thin and stretched, his nose pointy and his lips thin. That's two blond vamps tonight and three with blue eyes. Something was very wrong with that.

"Kyo!" Haru shouted as I sat up slowly. The brown haired vampire was struggling to move - to flee, I guess. I bet he didn't expect this. I looked toward my cousin who was standing next to the jeep, arms outstretched, eyes pitch black and grinning like a mad man.

"I'm alright! I'm okay..." I said, drawing my gun and smiling. "Sometimes that little power of your is very helpful, cuz."

Haru smiled and dropped his hands. At the same moment, the brown haired vamp fell to the ground with a thud, paralyzed. I stood slowly, aches springing up all over my body, and cracked my neck. Then, slowly, I aimed my gun at the vamp's head.

"_No_!" I looked out of the corner of my eyes and saw the blond vamp fell from the sky. She began to rush forward, and I pulled the hammer back on the gun. Not that that would really do anything, but I was aiming more for effect then anything else. She stopped instantly.

"I can't hold her too, Kyo," I heard Haru say, and I nodded - waiting. The girl walked around the lamppost, as close as she could get without making my finger twitch. She looked cautiously at me, putting both her hands up. She then looked at Haru, with question in her eyes.

"E's a Tella-ka-netik," she said, heavily accented and matter-of-factly. Slowly she stood up straight, and finally I saw her in full. Her dress was a lightly blue that matched the brown-haired vamp's eyes. Her skin was pale compared to the opening morning. Her feet were bare, and her tank-top dress left her arms free to the sky. She would have been pretty if lines of blood weren't falling from her mouth. She stared with her dark blue eyes at me, and I somehow managed to stare straight back.

"That he is," I said, my gun still aimed at the guy on the ground. "Now, who are you, and what do ya want with me?"

She tilted her chin to the air and let her lips go thin. "I am Alastra, ond that is my brotha Haine. Ve vant not'ing to do wit you, Kyo Sohma. Now let my brotha go."

She was confident and sure. She also dodged my last question.

"Why are you out to kill me?" I asked, and she just smiled, showing all the fangs she could.

"I om just doin v'at my mistress vished me, Kyo Sohma. Not'ing more. Ond now you vill let 'im go."

"I damn well won't do a thing. Who's your mistress?" I was glaring, venom plain in my voice. **No one** tells me what to do. Alastra's eyes thinned.

"Be vise not to ask, Sohma. You do not vant to be involved in this." She took a step forward, and the boy on the ground screamed. I looked down, surprised, then looked at Haru. The telekinetic was holding up his fist, squeezing his hands together loosely. His black eyes were fierce. I turned back to her and smiled a smile that really didn't belong to me.

"Who is your mistress?" I asked again, grinning. I knew my eyes were angry and fierce. I let that into my voice. She just stared back, brushing her hair away from her face, and smiled.

"_On collector of tha stranger things_," she said, letting her hands fall to her sides. Her smile was as wide and fierce as mine. "_Of corpses that move as if pulled by strings. From 'om that change from being to beast, to those 'ho considered blood a feast._ That is my master, Sohma. One 'om you offer no challenge."

I stared at her for a second, and then blinked. "What?"

She smiled and nodded toward the horizon. Blue sparkled in the distance, chasing away the black. I let my eyes peek at the sunrise, and then looked back. Her smile grew and quicker then I could pull the trigger - she flung her hand out toward Haru and I. My gun flew out of my hand, and Haru was pushed backwards, loosing concentration. I pulled my knife as I stumbled back, ready to be attacked again, but nothing came.

Alastra stood in the same spot when I planted my feet firmly on the ground again, but her bother was gone. The smile had left her face, and she suddenly looked serious. " I ow'd you, Sohma, for not pulling tha trigger sooner. Tonight I will spare you life, but this is _The Sighting. A heart shall be mine before the rising of the sun._ You have no mor' warning's."

I watched as she turned away, and then evaporated into thin air. A chilly morning wind pushed my hair around, and I felt the first morning ray touch the back of my neck.

I turned toward the jeep and found Haru sitting against it, cradling the back of his head and not moving. Sudden fear ran up my spine, and I rushed to my fallen cousin-cum-savior.

_Apartment 14, 1289 Shukumie and Hakai, Mita, Japan._

_Thursday 17: 28_

I walked out of the shower, feeling 100 better then I had when I entered the bathroom. My cuts stung like acid on my skin, but I felt good nevertheless. The rug was soft under my feet. For once I felt okay about waking up in the afternoon.

My apartment was simple and clean and very white - for the moment. I was still in the painting mood, after all. The hallway has a cream color, and the full floor carpet was mocha. My bathroom was hues of blue, the tile floor a striking white. Across from the bathroom was my walk in closet slash office. The walls were a deep red, and I knew that if I had my full range of color I could have appreciated this room a lot more. A closet was strung across one wall, and a second closet sat against the wall next to the door and it held my 'supplies'. There was my only window above my mahogany desk. The desk itself was huge and worn, and it made the entire room whole. Papers, my laptop, a desk lamp, my mail, and my Magnum sat on the desk. A giant desk chair sat swiveled toward the doorway.

Next to my bedroom, this room was the most inviting. It also held most of the stuff that I would attempt to get if there was a fire. My mother-

I stepped into my office and swung my closet open, searching for a good working shirt. I caught my image in the mirror and smiled.

As I've mentioned, I have claw scars running from my shoulder blade to halfway down my bicep. They're fading now, but the healing tissue is still a shiny pink. The cut across my abdomen was a lot older and darker and smaller, but it still had to be one of my favorites. With only a towel wrapped around my waist, I could see the claw marks left by Hiro from years ago. My left arm was such a mess I didn't even bother looking at it again.

Upon closer inspection I noticed the new cut on my right arm was healing already, so I decided to leave it open for a wile. I reapplied a butterfly to the (new) cut across my temple and grinned at myself, running a hand through my hair.

I snatched another blood red t-shirt out of my closet and picked out my favorite pair of black jeans. The gray fabric fit tightly around my chest, but it was worn in cotton, so I didn't mind that much. My pants hugged my thighs tightly enough to know that I wasn't wearing my box-...okay, in order not to incriminate myself, I will tell you that I _was_ wearing something under the jeans. Though I think I already incriminated myself by saying that. Sorry, that was a bit too much information for me to share.

I rubbed my hair with the towel once more before I threw it into the hamper in the corner, and then grabbed a pair of socks - the black ones. I slipped my holster over my shirt and slid the Mag into its second favorite place - its first being in my hands. My knives were strapped to both my arms, and my cross hung - still cold and damp - on my chest. I slipped my wallet into my back pocket, checking for my ID card and my LIVE badge first.

Are you dying to know what happened to my cousin yet? I'm laughing at you, ya know...

Fine, fine, fine. I dragged Haru up to my apartment as the sun peaked over the horizon. He had smacked his head against the step on the jeep and was cursing the entire walk from the parking lot to my apartment. He was fine, really. I just wrapped up the back of his head that was bleeding a bit and after that...well, I don't remember much after that. I know I got him set up in a guest bedroom - the blue one I think (I have three bedrooms in my apartment and that's not counting my office. This was meant to be a family's apartment. Right...), and after that I fell onto my bed and right into dreamland.

Well, I really don't dream, so I guess that doesn't count. Man, I'm really mentally messed up. I can't see red, can't dream. Ever since-

I stood up so fast my office chair slammed into my desk. I really need to stop thinking. I clutched my socks in my hand and stormed out into my living room.

The room was narrow but long, and it was painted a dark forest green - my favorite color. The living room and the kitchen connected in my 'dining area' that was never used. An entertainment center sat on the longest wall in my apartment. The mammoth piece of gray do-it-yourself furniture held my 32-inch TV, my DVD and VCR players, some old videos and DVDs. I had four entire shelves full of CD cases in alphabetical order, none of which any other family member could read. That thought made me smile again - it was the second Thursday of the month--and that meant Sean got packages from home. That meant American goodies all around the office today. The second Thursday is always my favorite day.

A couch sat under my front window to the right of my front door and took up the entire wall space till where the carpet hit the kitchen tile. On top of the window ledges sat my three green ferns/cactus, bringing more green into the room. The fabric was black as ink, and it matched the marble coffee table that sat in the L of the couch. Some magazines in different languages sat on it, along with a half a cup of coffee. Haru must have drinking some before he left.

He was gone before I woke up. His shift started before mine today, so he probably took the bus. I would have to ask him how his head was when I got to work.

I stepped into the kitchen and the chill of the black and white tile under my foot made me shiver. I put my socks on the buffet-counter thing and grabbed a To-Go coffee cup and pored the chilling liquid into it. Black as the night was the best kind of coffee in the world. I sighed into my cup.

The hallway opened into the living room, but a side door let you into the white kitchen. A wall blocked the dinning room and most of the kitchen from the hallway. Across from the door was the black fridge, then some counter space away from that was the oven/stove. My barely-used microwave sat on the small buffet next to the coffee maker, and random black containers of sugar, coffee, and other condiments were scattered in-between the microwave and the sink. Three chairs sat under the buffet - a solid black chrome color - and were comfy to have breakfast and dinner on. I could just see the TV from the chairs there, which was a bonus. Cabinets sat above all my counters space. Even more counter space was on the open wall with cabinets above it - it was obvious this apartment was made for a family with all this damn cooking space.

Over the buffet was the equally white dining room with my small 4-person dining room table. The table could be pulled out and leaves could be put in to make it longer, but incase you couldn't tell, I didn't normally have company. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling over the table.

My corner apartment was way too big for a guy like me. Haru's little one bedroom apartment would have been perfect for me but this was the same price, plus I had an extra window in my bedroom and office. How could I pass it up?

As I was sipping my coffee and pulling on my socks, the clock on top of my fridge dinged 4 on the dot. I grabbed my cup of coffee, shoved my feet into my favorite black Nikes, and snatched my keys off the key hook next to the door. With one last scan of my empty apartment, I sighed and shut the door with a click.

How could I pass it up? Well...the walls echoed your nightmares, and there was no one in the giant apartment to come home to after work. I had a king sized bed that I got lost in. I could fit an entire other person lying down on my couch. No one fought with me about what movie we would watch. There was one pair of keys on the key hooks. One pair of shoes at the front door. One umbrella, one toothbrush, one bottle of shampoo, one laundry basket...

I didn't need to be reminded how alone I was outside of work. Making myself more depressed wasn't on top of my list.

_The Sohma Company, 643 Shinwa, Mita, Japan._

_Thursday 18: 16_

It had been exactly 15 hours since I stepped foot in the office. That was a very nice thought. That meant that I had actually slept for few hours last...morning, was it? That didn't mean I was happy to go back to work, but it meant I walked in with a smile on my face.

"I'm guessing that smile meant you slept?" Yukari said form the front desk beside the swinging doors that led to the back. Behind him in gold letters was 'SCO'. The desk was made from a wood-like substance, and it was sturdy enough to hold a computer and a lamp. That was about it.

I just smile at him. "Seven hours, give or take. Who's in?"

"Gure is in the kitchen, and Sean is in his office with the package. He said that his parents sent something for you to." He was smiling at my grin as I hurried passed. A second before I passed through the swinging door I stopped and remember what I was thinking during my shower. I took a back step.

"Yukari, could you do me a favor?" I continued when he looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "Search the criminal data base for Honda Tohru and Kyoko, as well as Alastra. See what comes up."

He nodded and simply said. "Will do."

I nodded back, worry eating at my heart. Haru didn't come in today-

"Kyon!" Sean stepped out of his office - eyes almost glowing with anticipation and happiness - holding four CD cases. "Ma sent me 60 more CD's. 60! Half of them are mine from before, but a shit load are totally new."

I snatched one of the cases out of his hands and read it. I grinned. His mother sent more of The Starting Line. Burnt, but The Starting Line never the less. I guess she got/understood my letter. I'll send another one saying thanks. This was so sweet.

I smile up at him. "What else did'ya get?"

"More Aerosmith, more Darkness, some more SoCo, and..." He held up a broken and scratched CD case, his eyes getting wider and aw in his voice. "_Oh my god...she found my old Rolling Stones CD..._"

I was about to laugh when someone grabbed onto the back of my holster and pulled. A moment later, I was face to face with my eldest cousin's level brown eyes. I almost laughed in his face, but I bit my cheek and held it. Kudos for me.

"You're late again," he said, sounding bored. I shrugged him off and adjusted my holster to fit under my arms again, grinning at his bored tone.

"I'm sorry, I try not to live here twenty-four seven."

"You're so lucky you're family. I would've fired your ass so long ago-"

"That's why Sean is in 10 minuets early every day."

"_Hey_!"

Shigure smacked me on top of the head and grinned, his brown eyes coming to life again. I grinned back. Sean glared.

"You have a client in your office," the were said, the sudden glint fading. I blinked.

"I just got in."

Shigure shrugged and turned away from me. "He was asking for you specifically. Sorry, Kyon."

"Sorry?" I parroted, wondering what brought that on. Shaking my head, I took a step toward him, mentioning the biggest weight on my mind. "Wait, did Haru call in sick?"

"No." Shigure didn't even stop to say it. He shut his door with an echoing slam, and I knew something was very, _very_ wrong. I had a sinking feeling that whoever it was in my office was the cause of the disturbance. Great, just frickin' great...

I handed the CD case back to Sean with a serious look on my face. The American took it without question, patting me once on the back before he stepped back into his office. I sighed. I did hope this day would be better...

I hesitated outside my office and just touched the doorknob. Cold rushed up my arm and the spongy-brain feeling came back. I took sudden in a breath without realizing it, cold death-power vibrating up my arm.

Another one! Damnit! I can't get away from damn vampires today!

The knob turned under my hand, and the door opened with a slightly vacuum effect that pulled my hair forward to sit on top of my eyes. I almost took a step back in surprise, but stood my ground. I stared at my next employer and marked the tally down in my head: That's three blond vamps.

His hair was canary yellow - a bright blond that hadn't seen the sun in... well, a few hundred years, I would guess. His skin wasn't as sickly pale as some of the other vamps I saw today - yesterday, whatever - he was by far the darkest. He was also the most casually dressed next to Alastra, but so far he didn't launch himself at me with nails raised. It was still early, though.

A cotton candy pink long sleeved shirt covered his thin torso and made him look too young. A pair of black jeans covered his legs - I was debating whether or not to ask him if he had to pour his legs into those jeans, they looked so tight. Small dress shoes held his feet, and I noticed they were taping before I pulled my eyes up to meet his.

I couldn't stop myself. I looked up to his thin face and stared at his honey eyes. I think that messed both of us up. He took a step back, but didn't break eye contact. I didn't move.

"How...how can ya do that?" It was childlike. The vampire didn't look much older then Hiro. But I could tell the difference between the two instantly. This vamp was smiling as he said it, and that smile actually lit his eyes. Either he was way young, or he didn't care if he showed emotion.

I blinked back at him. "I...don't know." Yeah, great, Kyo. I'm so skilled with words. The vampire swung the door to my office open all the way and took a step back and out of the doorway. I stepped in - finding it a bit odd to have someone open the door for me - still staring at his eyes. He stared back and swung the door closed, then put his hands on his hips. His face showed pride and excitement - for me. Way odd...

"Who...who the hell are you?" I finally managed to ask, not breaking eye contact. We stayed still for another moment, then the vampire blinked and bowed.

"My name is Momiji." There was a smile in his voice and on his face as he stood up straight again. "And you're exactly what my master expected you to be."

That made me blink and take a step back, my brain truly realizing that this little boy was a vampire. I snapped back, "What?"

Momiji sighed and rolled his eyes, then sat in the chair across from mine. An invitation to sit. I looked at my chair, and then looked at the mirror above it. There was no one sitting in the chair across from the desk. I looked again and the little blond head in my cliental chair, then walked around my desk and sat.

"My master sent me to you to ask for your help." He was still smiling as he said it.

Alarm bells went off in my head. I crossed my arms and glared.

"Who's the hell's your master?" It sounded very nasty. Momiji's face sobered instantly, and I pushed my guess of his age back another two hundred years or so.

"I'm sorry about that. My master was hoping to get someone here before Kazuma -" No hesitation on the name. I made a mental note; Kazuma wasn't his master. Point for him. "- got to you, be we were...tied up last night. I'm here to offer you a real hand in helping find the missing Talents."

I blinked, and my mind stopped for a second. Wait, did he just say-

"Talents? As in...more then one?" I blinked. Must keep track of where that tough's trail is heading. The blond vampire nodded and grabbed a folder off the floor. A regular Five Star red folder with the bottom pockets... Hell, it was better then a manila folder. He put it on my desk and sat back again, gesturing for me to open it. I did so and found that - indeed- there were more then one.

"We think somewhere between 13 and 15. All powerful Talent users assigned or in contact with Japan's crack LIVE and LVE task force." He said it all with a straight face then leaned forward and pulled a sheet out of the back and placed it on the top of the pile. Forest green eyes sounded by dark brown hair, pale skin and cherry red lips. Her face was more round, and her nose was small and petite. It was a similar picture of Tohru Honda. I still had the 9 by 11 headshot of her in my jeep. Well, well...

"All of them but her." He finished, stapling his fingers. "I have no idea why she was kidnapped. My master knows next to nothing about her or her important power. We think she's going to be used for something. I'm not sure what yet, but you can call it an inevitable hunch."

I read down her sheet, noting the information I already knew. I blinked at it, and then looked up at him.

"I still don't understand why vampires are coming to me for help. I'm not involved in any of this-" The vampire put his hand up and cut me of abruptly. His face was very serious and closed off. No life what so ever. Nine hundred years, at best.

"Before now you weren't. But flip the sheet over."

Needless to say, I didn't want to flip the sheet over. I did it anyway, and regretted it instantly. I was staring down at the paper for a few good minutes attempting to fill myself up with hollowness. It wouldn't happen. There was too much emotion to deal with. I couldn't tell if I was scared, devastated, worried, or pissed. Mostly the last one, I think.

"I got news of it when I woke up today." Momiji said, breaking me from the trance. I slowly looked up at the small vampire who was now standing at the foot of my desk. He had a solemn look on his face like he actually felt bad for me. Whoa, too much bitterness there.

The vampire firmly planted both his hands on the desk and leaned toward me, making eye contact again. I was still shell shocked. If I let any emotion out I would start throwing things. That would be bad.

"Listen to me, Sohma," I could even see his fangs wall he spoke. "If you want to save him before they move to another country, I suggest you work with us, at least a little bit. For his sake, at least."

I blinked at him, then looked back down at the offending peace of white oxford paper and stared into my cousin's dark brown eyes and couldn't help but blame myself for this. Someone took my cousin out of my house last night, and I didn't even hear a sound. I didn't even stir.

Hatsuharu Sohma was MIA somewhere chained up with Tohru Honda, and 12 other people.

Suddenly, this became _my_ problem.

"What do you need?" I looked up, eyes dead. I had reached my white place, but the walls were going to crumble. I saw Momiji's eyes light up with hope. True hope.

"You need to meet my master."

"Besides that."

He blinked back at me. I guess he wasn't expecting that. "Nothing. I don't know the plans. I'm just the messenger. He's the master, after all."

Zing. He got me there. I sighed and leaned back, closing my eyes. I did not want to do this, but I didn't have a choice. If I wanted to find Haru, I needed to find someone who knew what the hell was going on. Hell, there was a lot I didn't know at the moment. I needed answers, and the only ones who had them was our alleged Gabriel of Japan, or Momiji's master. I didn't want to tango with Kazuma again any time soon, so I-

"-guess I don't have a choice," I said out loud. Must watch that thought trail. Momiji's eyes glistened

"You always have a choice. You just have to pick the right one," he said with a smile and tugged on the ends of his sleeves, then brushed the shirt and took a step towards the door. "And if you choose to trust me, I'll meet you outside. If you choose to do this by yourself with the written information I gave you, stay. I'll be waiting for 10 minutes. Then I'll leave and you won't ever have to see me again."

And with that he stepped out of my office and walked down the hallway.

I had a choice. To either do it myself or get help. Normally I would of asked Haru, but - for obvious reasons - that was impossible. I looked at the phone in my office and fought with myself for a moment before I picked the receiver up and dialed a number I knew by heart. When in a crisis, you call your best friend. In my case, it was my partner.

He picked up on the third ring. "Lo?"

"Set?"

There was quiet for a moment, and then I heard him smile. "I'm hunting, man. You got less then two minutes."

I looked at the clock. I had 9. "So you'll be late."

He laughed. "Like hell. It's my first case back. Three vamps running amuck in suburban Tokyo. Weirdest thing I've ever seen. They're not killing anything, just busting into homes and leaving."

I shrugs and leaned back in my chair, my brow furrowing. A thought just crept into my mind - a very dark and altering thought. " Did you spot any of them?"

"All of them, actually," was the reply. I heard him shut the radio off and sigh. He would be late, no doubt about that. But he owed me.

"What they look like?"

"Pale. Gangly."

"All vamps are pale and gangly." I snapped back.

"One was blond with really long hair. She was with a brunet and a redhead. You don't see something like that running amuck in suburban Japan every day," he said, and I thought for a second I that I had said something like that before. I couldn't remember. I was distracted by my hunch. I had 6 minuets to get outside.

"No kidding. Listen, stop over later on tonight. I have a shit load of stuff to tell ya. I need your help." There, I said it. The fatal 4 words. _I need your help_. He must have known that it took a lot to get me to ask for help. But if my hunch was correct, we would have a lot of papers to go through.

"Sure. Oh, and I have souvenirs from Bangkok ta give to you and Haru- " I flinched. Damn, the guilt was eating at me already. "-and I could go for a chat. Work or play?"

"Work." I said sharply. 4 minutes, and I needed to tell Shigure I was going. "I gotta go. Luck."

"Luck." he said back and snapped the phone shut. See, no goodbye or nothin'. I hesitated taking the phone off my ear, then slowly put the receiver down. I forced myself to stand up and snatch my car keys off my desk and step out of my office.

Shigure was leaning on the wall across from my office. I stepped out and blinked at him. The were didn't even blink. He just said, "Go."

Shigure knew. What am I thinking; of course Shigure knew. He knows everything. So, I went. I snatched the new Starting Line CD off Sean's desk without him noticing, but I went.

"Kyon."

I was at the door when Yukari called my name. I turned, ready to tell him not now, but he was handing a paper out towards me. I blinked at it, and then looked at him.

"The search you asked me for," Yukari said flatly, brushing hair from his eyes and pushing his glasses up in one fluid movement. "These are the matches and the histories."

My smile was a little apprehensive, but it was there nevertheless. I took the paper and tucked it into my back pocket, regretful that I hadn't brought my jacket. Not that it was cold; it was spring, for gods' sakes. My gun and knives would be out in the open for all vampires to see. As if summoned by my thoughts, Yukari handed me one of Sean's soft leather brown jackets, shaking his head. I found the strength to smile at my older cousin, then pulled the jacket on and dashed out the door.

Just as the door closed behind me I heard Momiji's small voice say "-one...You have very good timing."

I climbed out of our office and took a breath of the sweet night air. It tasted like cherry blossoms. I wondered for a moment if Tohru and Haru could taste it too, then shook the taught off and stared toward my jeep.

"I can understand if you really don't trust us." Momiji said, trailing behind me. Did I forget to close the back of my head tonight? Everyone was reading my mind.

"Whatever." I said back, unlocking my door. Once open, I climbed in and popped the lock on the passenger door. Momiji pulled it open and slid in, a smile on his face.

"But don't worry. Master said that you could keep your weapons if you wanted. No harm is to come to you when in our hands tonight, Kyon." I relaxed slightly, trusting this little vampire. For some reason, don't ask me to name it but it was there, I trusted him. Then I blinked.

"Who said you could call my Kyon?" I glared at the blond. He shrugged.

"Who said I couldn't?" He came back. I glared harder.

"Me."

"And who are you?" He raised an eyebrow at me, his honey eyes glassing. For the first time that night I felt the pull of a vampire gaze. It wasn't much at all, like a fly buzzing around your head. But it was there and that checked me. He was a child with a vampire in him after all - and I don't know what made me think that sentence exactly in that order with those words, but it was right. A kid with the vamp in him.

It took me a second to realize I had nothing to shoot back with. What the hell's up with me tonight!

I growled under my breath and flipped the engine on, ejecting the CD and putting the new one in.

"Hope you care for music," I said to him. He smiled.

"Love it."

I blinked as I pulled out of my parking space. "Where exactly am I going?"

"The Docks," he said, turning the music up. I sighed and felt a distinct knot in-between my shoulder blades like it does every night. I was going to meet a master vampire and attempt to work with him to find my cousin while I'm supposed ta be working on finding Tohru for the alleged Gabriel of Japan. And I was going to The Docks, of all places.

For a moment I remember that I was a LIVE, and that the vampires were the bad guys. I shook my head and turned the car in the direction of the Tokyo Bay and its ports. Not tonight, I remained myself; I'm a Tracker for SCO tonight. I kill the furry, not the fanged. _Tonight._

I prayed that I wouldn't have to kill anyone tonight altogether - furry or fanged. I also hope that no one would try to kill me again. Please please please let me walk around without blood spots on my clothes for one night, whether mine or anyone else's.

You know what sucks about hope? That's all it is. Hope. No certainty. But it sure is comforting sometimes. You can always hope.

**(Chapter End)**

**8: 43 p.m.**


End file.
